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Sticker of Masked crab spider
Bug card No. 2782 of 4,939

Masked crab spider

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

The masked crab spider is a small crab spider from East and Southeast Asia. The female is yellowish white with brown markings, and grown-up females often have two black spots joined by a bluish line. It is a very caring mother that guards its eggs.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
East and Southeast Asia, including Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and Thailand
Length
6.3 to 9 mm (0.25 to 0.35 in)
Top speed
about 0.34 km/h (0.21 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
Like other crab spiders, it hunts small insects and grabs them with its front legs.
For real!Photo of Masked crab spider
Picture by 池田正樹 ( talk )masaki ikeda. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Masked crab spider about 9 mm long (0.35 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 fingernailas long as 1.5 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 11 seconds

How big is Masked crab spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The mother makes a nest by pulling the edges of a leaf together with silk, with her eggs inside.

2

She will not leave her eggs, however much she is disturbed.

3

The males are smaller and much darker than the females.

4

Baby spiders, only about 2 millimetres long, spend the winter hiding under tree bark.

you asked

Most asked questions about Masked crab spider

?How big is the masked crab spider?

Females grow up to about 9 millimetres. Males are smaller, about 6 millimetres.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Thomisus labefactus
Named by
Karsch, 1881
Group
Spiders
Family
Thomisidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Thomisidae
Lives on
Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Thomisus labefactus (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 池田正樹 ( talk )masaki ikeda. Public domain, 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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