Re: Crab Spider???

Posted by Michael Fadel on January 15, 2004 at 11:17:38:

In Reply to: Re: Crab Spider??? posted by Phyllis Teel on May 22, 2000 at 11:40:32:

: : I have only seen this twice now in my home. It is smaller then the top of a pencils eraser. The body is a lite brownish/cream. It has four(4)legs that are small, but has two(2)long redish/brown claws in front. The claw limbs are just as long as it's body. It's legs are no where close to the lenghth of the claw limbs. The body is thin and it's over all looks are like a tick. With Claws??? I thought it might be a Crab Spider but their body is round, not thin. There two front legs are longer then the back! This is totally different. Please help me out!
: If it has 6 legs total, it may be the nymph stage of a tick. Spiders and adult ticks have 8 legs. I would have to see it to tell you for sure.
: Sincerely,
: Phyllis Teel
: www.e-bug.net

I am a Sculpture student at Winthrop University, one of my new projects is to contruct a bug (loosely stated) out of match sticks. I chose the crab spider out of pure aesthetic qualities and have learned alot from browsing the internet. What you are describing sounds like a crab spider. Keep in mind that there are hundreds of species of crab spider just about anywhere, and many of them do have a very thin complexion; this is for species that have adapted to hide in places more than a flower, like a twig, so they can elongate themselvs and nearly dissapear. Most of them are quite small, especially if the spider hasnt yet fully developed. If you look closely enough, you can see that the "claw" you described is actually two legs very close together. Another very slim possibility is that the spider lost a pair of its front legs which does occur since they can sometimes hunt very dangerous prey, or even become prey themselvs. I wouldn't consider them a pest, in fact they can be very helpful if you have a garden or some flowers that invite unwanted visitors.
: Michael Fadel

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