The Spiders in Your Yard - The Goldenrod Crab Spider

An up close and personal look at a flower-hunting predator, Misumena vatia: The Goldenrod Crab Spider. Discover its ecology, hunting methods, what we know (and only thought we knew), and more.

Unless otherwise credited, all photos and footage are my own.

Joe Lapp's excellent write-up on differentiating flower-hunting crab spiders:

Check out the channels of some folks who helped me out:
@mywildbackyard
@thewildlifebrothers

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Want to learn how to identify LOTS of spiders? Check out Sarah Rose's "Spiders of North America", the first book I reach for when identifying spiders (I earn a small commission if you purchase through these links).

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
2:14 Identification
8:35 Diet-induced Colour Change
9:39 Biteyness
11:18 Range and Distribution
12:24 How They Hunt
19:41 Heat Tolerance
20:46 Colour Change
22:20 How the Change Happens
27:33 Why They Change Colour
30:46 Day to Day Life of a Crab Spider
32:20 Dating and Mating
37:27 How They Will Affect You
38:07 Final Thoughts

[travismcenery]

References

Anderson, J. T., & Morse, D. H. (2001). Pick-up lines: cues used by male crab spiders to find reproductive females. Behavioral Ecology, 12(3), 360-366.

Brechbühl, R., Casas, J., & Bacher, S. (2010). Ineffective crypsis in a crab spider: a prey community perspective. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 277(1682), 739-746.

Bristowe, W. S. (1958). The World of Spiders. Collins, London.

Foelix, R. F. (2011). Biology of Spiders, 3rd ed. Oxford University Press.

Hinton, H. E. (1979). Possible significance of the red patches of the female crab-spider, Misumena vatia. Journal of Zoology 180:35-39.

Insausti, T. C., Casas, J. (2008). The functional morphology of color changing in a spider: development of ommochrome pigment granules. The Journal of Experimental Biology 211:780-789.

Insausti, T. C. Et al. (2012). Visual fields and eye morphology support color vision in a color-changing crab-spider. Arthropod Structure & Development 41:155-163.

Land, M. F. (1985). The morphology and optics of spider eyes. In Neurobiology of arachnids (pp. 53-78). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Morse, D. H. (1981). Prey capture by the crab spider Misumena vatia (Clerck)(Thomisidae) on three common native flowers. American Midland Naturalist, 358-367.

Morse, D. H. (2007). Predator upon a flower: life history and fitness in a crab spider. Harvard University Press.

Riou, M., & Christidès, J. P. (2010). Cryptic color change in a crab spider (Misumena vatia): identification and quantification of precursors and ommochrome pigments by HPLC. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 36, 412-423.

Rose, S (2022). Spiders of North America. Princeton University Press.

Schmalhofer, V. R. (1999). Thermal tolerances and preferences of the crab spiders Misumenops asperatus and Misumenoides formosipes (Araneae, Thomisidae). Journal of Arachnology 27:470-480.

Schmalhofer, V. R. (2000). Diet-induced and morphological color changes in juvenile crab spiders (Araneae, Thomisidae). The Hournal of Arachnology 28:56-60.

[MarSis]

Finally, someone described it as a “come at me, bro” pose too 😂 they always look so pissed off for no reason

[eveleynce]

I love them so much! one of their self defense methods is just curling their legs into a ball shape and ROLLING AWAY. So cute!

[jonfranklin]

I’ve seen these in my flower garden . I wondered why legs looked like crabs. My wife thinks I’m silly when I save spiders that get inside the house. Thanks for sharing

[Nerfzilla]

I don’t have the necessary language to explain how much I adore your videos and how important they are to me. Thank you so much!

[highdnc]

I can't unsee "come at me bro" and will be keeping an eye out for these beauties. Thank you so much for another great video.

[willowcreeper]

I see these often in my native plant garden! They are so beautiful and elegant- until they start moving. It makes me laugh every time. Thank you so much for this video, now they will bring me even more joy!

[purpleheart]

I had an adorable little crab spider living in my chamomile plant over the summer! He was yellow and loved eating the teeny bugs on the flowers. I LOVED this video, thank you!❤

[gcrauwels]

Another well put together presentation, Travis. I learned a few things about them that I didn't know with a couple of laughs.
And thank you to your wife for allowing you to keep critters in your house.

[dshobe]

Thought of you today as I watched my female house spider in my bathroom hiding under a gap in the door trim, it's a rental, finish feeding after 48 hours gorging on an adult roach she caught! Her site fidelity is great and her web blanket only takes up 2 inches of the doorway so as a recent bachelor I contemplate her existence whilst contemplating life from my throne. Great video way less wronger than most.

[swayback]

This vid is a great example of why this channel is so good… you can probably find 100 vids on YT that are less than 5 minutes long about crab spiders, maybe some specifically about one species… I’m not looking for “10 fun facts” I’m looking for real knowledge! I know the info is out there… but finding it ain’t easy, may be expensive and digesting it is tough for non experts like me…
I REALLY wish there were more content like this, regardless the topic… finding surface info on any topic is easy enough, but there’s a bunch of nerds out here looking for much more… and you’ve got it!
“Crime pays but botany doesn’t” is another such channel.
Thanks for doing so much work so they learning is easy.

[jmuehlbauer]

As a lover of entomology and related subjects, your videos are the best I have seen. Thanks so much!

[Gruntsworth]

I don't know why, but that stupid additional sign nailed to the support of the main sign at 12:04 really made me laugh. Love the shoddy work with the nails. lol

[rockerboyrage]

I always loved crab spiders. Very chill and no threat to humans at all. Perfect spider bros.

[NewMessage]

Crabbies are my hands down favorite. Not only amazingly designed, but gloriously beautiful, mutable coloration, and a decent 'strike a pose' game for photos.... And the kicker is ya usually only encounter them by surprise, when you look at a flower closely. Of all the spiders streaming into my house as the air gets colder, this is the one I most wish would come in to warm up... but they never do.

My drab decor is just not up to their standards, I guess.

[robotic_automaton]

this is one of the few youtube channels that i feel safe in upvoting before even watching. your content is factual and very entertaining. i appreciate this. thank you! :)

[boinqity]

just got my copy of spiders of north america in the mail and you uploaded on the same day. best birthday gift i could have ever asked for

[Erinselysion]

Aw, I'm so happy you did a video on these guys! Back in May my mom and I found one while trimming our bougainvillea, and we were so entranced by its crab-like movements that we spent at least 10 extra minutes just observing it.

All of these facts are very very interesting, I had a ton of fun watching this video and showing parts of it to my mom! The color-changing and influence of their diet is super super cool, and the footage you took of the yellow ones is absolutely adorable. 💕

[InTheMindOfDavid]

While I appreciate the help and support of your wife with your hobby, I certainly wouldn’t mind a “Peter Jackson”-feature-film length video on spiders from you. 👍

[Psittacus_erithacus]

25:08 - 27:33 superlative bit of educational content here. I'm hugely appreciative of examples like this that show how basic research often goes. The willingness to keep digging to construct the best understanding possible based on existing information is just as important for the advancement of human knowledge (and requires no less fortitude) as active experimentation. Neither get the full credit they deserve these days (if they ever did), but quality secondary research is truly an under-appreciated science. Excellent work & great presentation.