Misumenoides is a genus of spiders in the family Thomisidae.[1] Spiders in this family are commonly called "crab" or "flower" spiders.[2]

Misumenoides
Possibly Misumenoides parvus, on the Bidens ferulifolia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Thomisidae
Genus: Misumenoides
F. O. P-Cambridge, 1900
Misumenoides formosipes
Male Misumenoides formosipes (whitebanded crab spider)

Species

edit

As of 2022, the World Spider Catalog listed the following 35 species:

The female Misumenoides formosipes, while similar to Misumena vatia, is not as large, and can be distinguished by the inverted 'V' marking on its back (with the point of the V closer to the cephalothorax) and the 'mask' over its eyes. In most respects this spider behaves like the goldenrod spider, also commonly hunting in goldenrod sprays in the fall. It tends to take smaller prey, however, avoiding the bumblebees and large butterflies in favor of honeybees, large flies and small butterflies such as skippers. Male M. formosipes are quite distinctive, being much smaller than females and having a greenish cephalothorax, yellow-orange abdomen, and long, red to reddish-black front legs. They are found on a wide variety of plants as they wander in search of females in late summer and early fall.

References

edit
  1. ^ Biswas, V. (2020). "A newly recorded crab-spider genus Misumenoides F.O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1900 (Araneae: Thomisidae) from Khulna, Bangladesh". Journal of Biodiversity Conservation and Bioresource Management. 6 (1): 77–82. doi:10.3329/jbcbm.v6i1.51376. ISSN 2412-2416.
  2. ^ Schmalhofer, Victoria R. (1999). "Thermal Tolerances and Preferences of the Crab Spiders Misumenops asperatus and Misumenoides formosipes (Araneae, Thomisidae)". The Journal of Arachnology. 27 (2): 470–480. ISSN 0161-8202.
edit