My scientific name is Ozyptila praticola, and I am part of the Arachnida class along with all of the other spiders. I am found in North America, Europe, and Northern Asia. My color is affected by what I eat and my environment, but I can also change color to match the flower I’m sitting on over several days. In crab spiders, females are bigger than males.
Us crab spiders, along with other spiders like wolf spiders, don’t spin webs to catch prey. To catch prey, we sit on flowers or foliage to pounce. This is one of the reasons we have such good vision for motion. We prey on bees, flies, butterflies, and other pollinators. We do still spin webs though, and that is for males to locate females in mating.
We play important roles in gardens and the ecosystem. We are predators, but also food sources for other animals. Our venom is deadly enough to kill bees, and is useful in medical and chemical research. Our silk is also used in materials science, and we are important for pest control in your garden. We are also useful indicators for healthy biodiversity.
Sources: http://www.softschools.com/facts/animals/crab_spider_facts/1676/
http://www.zoo.org/document.doc?id=203
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomisidae
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