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Photo#1119841
Hitchhiker on crab spider

Hitchhiker on crab spider
Austin, Travis County, Texas, USA
August 11, 2015
Size: 0.5mm
This hitchhiker is lateral on the dorsal posterior carapace of a Misumessus female crab spider. I'm guessing that it's only about half a mm long. If it's a parasite, any suggestions for ridding the spider of it? I just mated the spider and would like the spider to live long enough to make an egg sac. I also don't want the egg sac attacked.

If it's any clue, I had trouble feeding the Misumessus until I started giving her house flies. The spider was penultimate when I found her and molted in captivity. I have photos of her just after her molt, and there appears to be something smaller on the left side of her posterior carapace in those photos. It is now on the right side, possibly larger.

There also appears to be a wound of sorts on an anterior leg of the spider, but that might have been the result of a cricket I attempted to feed to her. The would occurred after molt, and the larva also seems much larger now. See photo.

After John and Jane Balaban suggested mantispid larva, I removed it, but crushed the head in the process. See the additional photo.

Images of this individual: tag all
Hitchhiker on crab spider Hitchhiker on crab spider Hitchhiker on crab spider - feeding site? - female

Moved
Moved from Mantidflies.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

tail?
What is that tail shown on the microscope photo?

Similar hitchhiker
See also this similar hitchhiker on a preserved crab spider collected in Florida: