Crab spiders

Crab spiders lie in wait in flowers and pounce when prey arrives. 

This one was on a Fragrant Orchid in Surrey on 26 June 2013.

It might be Diaea dorsata.  Can anyone confirm its species?

Today, in Surrey, I closed in for a closer shot of these two Meadow brown butterflies on a Scabious flower.  One flew off and I took some pictures of the one remaining underneath the flower.  I was curious to see how it could get at the Scabious florets from that position.  Seemingly extraordinarily, the butterfly did not fly off as I got the camera lens just a few inches away.  I moved the flower to get a better shot and the butterfly fell out in the grasp of a spider hanging on the spider's thread.  I shot some out of focus pictures of the spider climbing back to beneath the flower.  And that explains the following pictures.  Enjoy! 

This might be Misumena vatia.  What a meal for this crab spider!

The butterfly and spider fell together.  The spider then climbed up its own thread back to the flower.

Exciting things are happening in our wildflower meadows in summer.  There are other wonderful pictures in "Wildflower Meadows" by Margaret Pilkington, which I recommend.  Do buy it from a bookseller who pays UK corporation tax though and NOT from one invoicing from Luxemburg which avoids paying corporation taxes in the UK.

 

 

What a meal for a small spider!  I shall add these pictures to my talk "The Natural Year in Focus"

 

Please click here for details of that talk.