May 21
Epicadus granulatus
A crab spider from South and Central America.
image by Laurent Hesemans
seen from Australia
seen from Indonesia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Indonesia
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Israel
seen from T1
seen from Israel
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Switzerland
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
Epicadus granulatus
A crab spider from South and Central America.
image by Laurent Hesemans
Flower Mimicry: the Crab spider
This beauty is a purple form of Epicadus heterogaster, a South American species of spider in the Thomisidae Family. Due to its shape, Epicadus heterogaster is commonly named Crab spider and Flower spider.
These fascinating spiders mimic an orchid (or a flower), so to feed they no need great efforts and just have to wait patiently on a plant to insects come to the "flower" in search of nectar, then insects are promptly eaten by the spider.
References: [1] - [2]
Photo credit: ©Geoff Gallice
Locality: Yaupi, Morona-Santiago, Ecuador
Araña Flor (Epicadus heterogaster)