Monday, August 8, 2011

Not On MY Turf!

Crab Spider on Purple Coneflower
or
Misumena vatia on Echinacea purpurea

Would you like to know some facts? 
1.  The Crab Spider can change its color to camouflage with its surroundings.  It may take a few days, but it can be white, yellow or green.  They eat insects and are poisonous - but not harmful to humans.  :-)  

The Crab Spider sits on flowers, waiting for its prey.  When it lands close enough, the spider grabs its prey with its claw like front legs.  The male is smaller than the female.  This information, and more, is available at this site:  Crab Spider.

2.  Purple Coneflower is a native wildflower found in the midwest and southeastern United States.  It self seeds and is easily propagated.  It thrives in full sun to partially shaded conditions.  More information is available at this site.  Purple Coneflower.

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9 comments:

  1. GRACE PETERSONAugust 8, 2011 at 11:19 PM

    I DESPISE crab spiders! I don't care if they're just trying to survive or what. They murder bees and butterflies and this makes them my enemies. I unabashedly murder them when I seem them. Okay, I'll calm down now. :)

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  2. Sue CatmintAugust 9, 2011 at 7:20 AM

    thanks shady - interesting facts. You certainly made Grace excited though by this post. (Hi, Grace) cheers, cm

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  3. Shady GardenerAugust 9, 2011 at 8:36 AM

    Hi Grace, I'm glad I don't see them often, then!!! My favorites are jumping spiders! ;-)

    Hi catmint... It was probably that I gave it such "bigger than life" status! lol.

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  4. DarlaAugust 9, 2011 at 12:30 PM

    I'm still staring at Grace's comment myself. I did not know these spiders were not welcome in the gardens...I'll pay closer attention.

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  5. Randy EmmittAugust 9, 2011 at 1:52 PM

    Shady,

    Spiders are part of the natural cycle in the garden! Grace does not understand that. Very simple spiders are food for birds, mantises and what ever grabbing them. I let all the spiders here enjoy their home in our garden.

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  6. EMAugust 10, 2011 at 3:36 AM

    wow.. amazing pic with perfect angle..

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  7. troutbirderAugust 10, 2011 at 8:45 AM

    Nope. He can have it. No arguement from this end. :)

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  8. Shady GardenerAugust 10, 2011 at 12:42 PM

    Darla, From what I read, there are several varieties of crab spiders. You can tell mine is pretty tiny! :-)

    Randy - I can hardly kill a spider indoors!! ;-) The ugly ones get taken outdoors asap, though! ha.

    EM - thanks!

    troutbirder - I agree! If he's THAT tiny and still ready to take me on, I'm going to let him be!! :-)

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  9. CassyAugust 18, 2011 at 7:20 PM

    Thanks for sharing those facts! I never know those facts before.

    Cassy from Acoustic Guitar Lessons

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Thank you for visiting today. I don't mean to make it hard for you to leave a message, but temporarily I am going to enable word verification. Too many spam messages to deal with lately. Thanks for your patience! SG