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Sticker of Red-tipped crab spider
Bug card No. 3604 of 4,939

Red-tipped crab spider

Sidymella rubrosignata
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersGardens and meadows8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The red-tipped crab spider is a small Australian spider that plays hide and seek. It is usually green, so it almost vanishes on a green leaf. On its back it has two little bumps, each with a red patch.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Australia, on leaves and flowers, often on flax lily plants
Length
4.5 to 8 mm (0.18 to 0.31 in)
females are bigger than males
Top speed
about 0.32 km/h (0.2 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It catches insects and sometimes other small spiders. It does not build a web, it just waits for them to come close.
For real!Photo of Red-tipped crab spider
Picture by Poyt448 Peter Woodard. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Red-tipped crab spider about 8 mm long (0.31 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailcould run across a dinner table in 11 seconds

How big is Red-tipped crab spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its front two pairs of legs are much longer than the back two, a bit like a crab.

2

Sometimes it is yellow, light brown or reddish instead of green.

3

The mother folds the tip of a leaf over her eggs and ties it with silk to keep them safe.

4

Each egg sac holds about 20 to 35 cream-coloured eggs, each smaller than a millimetre.

5

Its genus name had to be changed, because a group of moths already had the same name.

you asked

Most asked questions about Red-tipped crab spider

?Does the red-tipped crab spider make a web?

No. It sits still on a leaf or flower and waits for an insect to come near.

?Why is it called red-tipped?

It has two bumps on its back, and each bump has a red patch.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Sidymella rubrosignata
Named by
L. Koch, 1874
Group
Spiders
Family
Thomisidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Thomisidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Sidymella rubrosignata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Poyt448 Peter Woodard. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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