Crab spider mimics flower to attract prey

Flower Crab Spiders do not build webs to catch their prey. Instead, they are ambush predators. They usually sit motionless in flowers and grab visiting insects such as bees, flies or butterflies with their crab-like front legs. Some species can even change color to match the flower they are on.

But this species from the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador can be found on green leaves and mimics itself a flower by reflecting ultraviolet (UV) light, just as flowers do, in order to attract pollinating insects. Even its movements are jerky, like a flower swaying in the wind. It produces silk for safety lines. As most spiders it has four pairs of eyes.