I found this in the yard recently, perfect timing for Halloween.  This species is one of my 3 favorite native spiders I often see in the yard. The unfortunate thing about them is, when I find them with a captured prey, it is always a butterfly.  They seem to catch a lot of Fiery Skippers on the daisies and lantana flowers.  Nevertheless, I leave these be where I find them and enjoy seeing their natural camouflage on the flowers.  With the majority of spiders I find, I appreciate having them in the yard as natural pest enemies, all except the widow spiders which I wrote about in another post.

 

Misumenoides formosipes – Whitebanded Crab Spider is commonly called a flower spider or crab spider.  The formosus part of its name is from Latin for “Beautiful.”  And I agree, they are some of the prettiest spiders I find regularly in the yard.  They don’t make webs and instead lie in wait for their prey to visit the flowers they hang out on.  The females’ patterns and colors can vary from yellow to white, and the color usually matches the color of the flowers they are on.