African mask spider
The African mask spider is a small crab spider from eastern and southern Africa. It sits on plants and sometimes right inside a flower, where it is very hard to spot. From there it waits for insects to visit.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It has been found in every province of South Africa and in more than 15 nature parks, including Kruger National Park.
It also lives on farms, in avocado, orange and macadamia orchards and in tomato fields.
It lives everywhere from the seaside up to about 1900 metres high.
For years some books spelled its name wrong, until scientists fixed it in 2019.
Most asked questions about African mask spider
?Where does the African mask spider live?
In Ethiopia, Mozambique, Eswatini and all over South Africa, on plants and flowers.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Synema imitatrix
- Named by
- Pavesi, 1883
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Thomisidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Thomisidae
- Lives on
- Africa
Where the facts come from
- Synema imitatrix (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Nicola van Berkel. CC BY-SA 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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