Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Genus Misumena - Flower Crab Spiders

Crab Spider - Misumena vatia Misumenops? - male - Misumena vatia - male Goldenrod Crab Spider - Misumena vatia - female Misumena nabs a bee - Misumena vatia Crab Spider - Misumena vatia Misumena vatia - face - Misumena vatia - male Goldenrod crab spider? - Misumena vatia Flower Crab Spider with Prey - Misumena vatia - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)
No Taxon (Entelegynae)
Family Thomisidae (Crab Spiders)
Genus Misumena (Flower Crab Spiders)
Numbers
2 species in the USA & Canada.
Identification
Some closeups of facial images to aid in identification:

Misumena:
All four anterior (front) eyes are about the same size. When viewed from the front, and a little above, it seems all eight eyes are visible and form a crescent shape. The lateral eyes are on tubercles, but the posterior laterals are visible. See



Misumenoides:
All four anterior (front) eyes are about the same size. When viewed from the front, and a little above, only six eyes are visible. The posterior laterals are facing sideways and are on the ends of a long horizontal transverse ridge across the face. Eric says "Misumena has essentially no black markings (while Misumenoides may have some), which is how you can tell them apart in the field most easily." See



Mecaphesa: (previously Misumenops)
The anterior lateral eyes are a little larger than the anterior median eyes. When viewed from the front, and a little above, only six eyes are visible. The posterior laterals are facing sideways and backwards on tubercles that include the anterior laterals. Mecaphesa is also often (always?) hairy. See



Comments, corrections, and suggestions most welcome. Please add them to discussion thread here.

Images by Tom Adams, Troy Bartlett, Derrick Ditchburn, Tony DiTerlizzi, Bill DuPree, Vincent J Hickey, Richard Leung, Paul F Wagner, Paul McNelis, and Chris Wirth
Range
vatia - USA, Canada
fidelis - USA - This species has not been redescribed since the original description
by Nathan Banks in 1898! It's not really clear if anyone but Banks has ever even seen one. (Rod Crawford)
Description: 202. Misumena fidelis, sp. nov.
Plate XVI. Fig. 2.

Length 7 mm.; ceph. 2.7 mm., broad 2.7 mm.; femur I 3.8mm. Cephalothorax, legs, and mandibles yellowish, a double white spot above on the former, a white point at the tips of the latter, a white band connects the S. E.; sternum pale; abdomen yellowish, above with two converging rows of distinct black spots, ill defined, starting at middle, sometimes a median spot in front of them, and one on each posterior side. Eyes of anterior row at about equal distances; M. E. form a square. Legs of moderate length; four pairs of spines under tibiae I and II; seven and eight under metatarsi I and II. Abdomen broadest in the middle, pointed behind, rather high.

Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Volume 29
American Museum of Natural History, 1911 - Science
lists:
Misumena fidelis Banks, Proc. California Acad. Sc., 1898, Vol. I, p. 261, pl. xv, f. 2.
Hab.— Mexico: El Taste; U. S. A: Arizona.
Internet References