Crab spider

Fact Box Species: Tharrhalea evanida (ID source below; formerly Diaea then Lehtinelagia (JS)) Family: Thomisidae Body length: female: 6 mm male: 4 mm Habitat: Often in a retreat formed by curling a green leaf into a loop and partly sealing it with silk Toxicity: Unknown but this spider is almost certainly too small to cause significant human illness

Another female In retreat with eggs Female and male Male, female mating A colourful female Another male Another view

Until recently this spider was known as a Diaea species but in 2014 P. Szymkowiak in Annales of Zoologici Warszawa, Volume 64, pages 333-477, stated it should be shown as a Lehtinelagia species. However, just two years later, and very controversially, Lehtinen stated the generic name should be further changed to Tharrhalea.

This species is typical of crab spider species in that it has green legs and cephalothorax and a whitish abdomen with red markings. This allows it to hide on green leaves or in flowers and to catch insects by stealth.

As shown on this page, crab spiders can exhibit a considerable degree of sexual dimorphism, the male being unlike the female in appearance.

Known range: Common from Bowen to South-east Queensland and allegedly also around Sydney.

Spider(s) with a very similar appearance: Some other Tharrhalea species as well as Zygometis xanthogaster some Australomisidia and Boomerangia species.