Crab Spider with cryptic colors - genus Ozyptila?
Here are two shots of a tiny Crab Spider (Thomisidae) with cryptic colors that I found on a dandelion-like seedhead of native (but weedy) Telegraph Weed (Heterotheca grandiflora, Asteraceae) along the road in the canyon today. It's really tiny, just 580 pixels in these 1:1 macro shots, which comes to 2.3 mm - less than 1/10 inch. (See here for how I figure.) This is not one of the flower-loving Mecaphesa spiders that I've been showing lately, but something else. It might be a Ground Crab Spider in the genus Xysticus, but I think it's more likely genus Ozyptila. (And that's not to mention genera Coriarachne and Bassaniana!) It has stubby front legs with just two spines (I think) on the first tibia. Whatever it is, it's a surprising spider, so tiny! Arachtober 21a. (San Marcos Pass, 21 October 2019)
Crab Spider with cryptic colors - genus Ozyptila?
Here are two shots of a tiny Crab Spider (Thomisidae) with cryptic colors that I found on a dandelion-like seedhead of native (but weedy) Telegraph Weed (Heterotheca grandiflora, Asteraceae) along the road in the canyon today. It's really tiny, just 580 pixels in these 1:1 macro shots, which comes to 2.3 mm - less than 1/10 inch. (See here for how I figure.) This is not one of the flower-loving Mecaphesa spiders that I've been showing lately, but something else. It might be a Ground Crab Spider in the genus Xysticus, but I think it's more likely genus Ozyptila. (And that's not to mention genera Coriarachne and Bassaniana!) It has stubby front legs with just two spines (I think) on the first tibia. Whatever it is, it's a surprising spider, so tiny! Arachtober 21a. (San Marcos Pass, 21 October 2019)