Friday, May 25, 2012

Tmarus angulatus and Xysticus alboniger

This is definitely one of the funkiest spiders I've ever chanced upon – it's a Crab Spider, genus Tmarus, and according to the distribution given for this species at BugGuide.Net, it's probably Tmarus angulatus.


A dorsal view of the spider – this is a female, and she's about 8 mm long.


Nice camouflage ... the spider's size, shape, color and posture all conspire to make it resemble a sedge flowerhead.


A shot of the spider's abdomen and spinnerets.


Ventral views of Tmarus angulatus.



It's been a good couple of days for finding "new" species of spiders, but I was lucky indeed to spot this lttle male Ground Crab Spider – Xysticus alboniger – as he's only about 3 mm in length.