Little Monsters - Part 34: Crab Spider!

Crab spiders are very hard to spot! Their bodies usually match the flowers where you can find them very closely.
That's part of their hunting strategy. The crab spider can usually be found inside flowers, sometimes on the underside of petals too.

There, they wait until an insect comes to feed on the sweet nectar or to gather pollen.

Their googly eyes look really cute!
Though cute the crab spider's eyes are not very good for discerning detail but are good at detecting motion. The long legs are quite robust and used to grab the prey and detect vibration as well.

Their typical pose is with the front two pair of legs held away from the body, while the rear two pair secure the spider to its perch.

I accidentally knocked this one out of its flower with my hat as I was searching for subjects to photograph. It rappelled down to a blade of grass and set up shop there.

Crab Spiders can bring down prey many times larger than themselves. This spider caught part of a cranefly:

The legs of the cranefly are only loosely attached and as a defensive mechanism pop right off! The cranefly escaped and the spider has a meal! A slightly macabre win/win situation.

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Also, if you like macro photography, check out some of the earlier posts in this series.

Little Monsters - Part I: Wolf Spiders
Little Monsters - Part II: Golden Orb Weaver
Little Monsters - Part III: Lynx Spiders!
Little Monsters - Part IV: Decorator Orb Weaver
Little Monsters - Part V: Black Back Paper Wasp
Little Monsters - Part VI: Dragonfly
Little Monsters - Part VII: Indian Fritallary
Little Monsters - Part VIII: Giant Japanese Hornet
Little Monsters - Part IX: Praying Mantis!
Little Monsters - Part X: Harlequin Ladybird!
Little Monsters - Part XI: Dragons!
Little Monsters - Part XII: Snails!
Little Monsters - Part XIII: Evil Weevils!
Little Monsters - Part XIV: Fantastic Phasmids!
Little Monsters - Part XV: To Bee or not to Bee?
Little Monsters - Part 16: Jumping Spiders!
Little Monsters - Part 17: Hawkmoth Caterpillars and Hawkmoths
Little Monsters - Part 18: Evil Doppelgangers - The Ant Mimic Spider
Little Monsters - Part 19: Hummingbird Hawkmoth!
Little Monsters - Part 20: Loud and Proud the Cicada!
Little Monsters - Part 21: Great Green Caterpillars!
Little Monsters - Part 22: Vespa mandarina japonica
Little Monsters - Part 23: Little Black Ants
Little Monsters - Part 24: Cranes and Robbers
Little Monsters - Part 25: Hidden in the Grass
Little Monsters - Part 26: Ammophila, Alien is real!
Little Monsters - Part 27: Bush Cricket
Little Monsters - Part 28: Butterflies, flying bits of colour!
Little Monsters - Part 29: Hermit Crabs!
Little Monsters - Part 30: Redback Spider
Little Monsters - Part 31: Harlequin Ladybird Larva
Little Monsters - Part 32: Small Cabbage White
Little Monsters - Part 33: Jumping Spiders II Evarcha albaria
Little Monsters - Part 33 II: More Jumping Spiders!

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