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Sticker of Attractive running crab spider
Bug card No. 0202 of 4,939

Attractive running crab spider

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

The attractive running crab spider is a fast little hunting spider. Running crab spiders do not build webs to catch food. Instead they dash after their prey on plants and on the ground.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
North America, Europe and Asia, as far as Siberia and China
Top speed
about 1.2 km/h (0.75 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It runs after small insects and grabs them with its front legs.
For real!Photo of Attractive running crab spider
Picture by LostThorne. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It lives on three continents: North America, Europe and Asia.

2

Scientists use it as the main example for its whole genus, Rhysodromus.

3

Running crab spiders hold their legs out to the sides, a bit like a crab.

you asked

Most asked questions about Attractive running crab spider

?Does the running crab spider make a web?

No. It hunts by running after insects instead of catching them in a web.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Rhysodromus histrio
Group
Spiders
Family
Philodromidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Philodromidae
Lives on
North America, Europe, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Rhysodromus histrio (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 LostThorne. 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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