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Sticker of Two-spotted flower crab spider
Bug card No. 4499 of 4,939

Two-spotted flower crab spider

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

The two-spotted flower crab spider sits very still on flowers and waits. The female has a white back end with two little bumps, and each bump has a black dot. It holds its front legs open wide, like a crab.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Africa, Arabia and India, on flowers, grass and shrubs
Length
1.6 to 7.1 mm (0.06 to 0.28 in)
Top speed
about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It hides on flowers and grabs insects that come to visit them.
For real!Photo of Two-spotted flower crab spider
Picture by Peter Webb. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Two-spotted flower crab spider about 7.1 mm long (0.28 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 12 seconds

How big is Two-spotted flower crab spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The male is much smaller than the female. He is only about 2 millimetres long, while she can be over 7.

2

It lives in many kinds of places, from near the sea to over 2000 metres up in the mountains.

3

It is also found in farms, like orange and macadamia nut plantations.

4

Scientists once gave it three different names, because its males, females and colour forms look so unlike each other.

you asked

Most asked questions about Two-spotted flower crab spider

?Why is it called a crab spider?

It holds its front legs out wide and can walk sideways, a bit like a crab.

?Where does the two-spotted flower crab spider live?

In Africa, Arabia and India, on flowers, grass and bushes.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Thomisus daradioides
Named by
Simon, 1890
Group
Spiders
Family
Thomisidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Thomisidae
Lives on
Africa, Asia
Also known as
Two-spotted Thomisus crab spider

Where the facts come from

  1. Thomisus daradioides (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 Peter Webb. CC BY 4.0, 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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