Common crab spider
The common crab spider is a small brown and cream spider that looks just like a dry leaf. It sits very still with its front legs spread wide open, ready for a hug. When an insect bumps into it, it grabs it fast.
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Fun facts
It is called a crab spider because it can walk sideways like a crab.
It does not spin a web to catch food. It waits in ambush instead.
Baby spiders travel by ballooning: they float through the air on a thread of silk.
The mother sits on her flat white egg bag to protect it until the little spiders hatch.
Most asked questions about Common crab spider
?Why is it called a crab spider?
It can walk sideways, like a crab, and holds its front legs out wide like crab claws.
?How big is the common crab spider?
Females are about 6 to 8 millimetres long and males about 3 to 5 millimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Xysticus cristatus
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Thomisidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Thomisidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
Where the facts come from
- Xysticus cristatus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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