Crab spiders (also known as flower spiders) are ambush hunters. They are common, but secretive and camouflaged. Some can change colour to match flowers. They have eight eyes arranged in two rows of four, which they can rotate independently of each other.
Bomis larvata L. Koch, 1874 Miniature Crab Spider
A small Thomisid with at least two forms, a dark (melanic) form and a lighter one with browns, pinks and oranges. Some have green cephalothoraxes and... 
Cymbacha ocellata
A Thomisid spider found on green leaves or in flowers but spends most of its time in a retreat made by folding the end of a leaf into a bell-shaped tent. The carapace and abdomen are somewhat roughened whereas the similar Cymbacha saucia has a smooth exterior with more obvious patterns.
Cymbacha saucia L. Koch, 1874 Black Crab Spider
The female body length 7 mm, male 4 mm, usually found in a retreat formed from a folded leaf, distinctive markings. The upper legs have clear...
Diaea dimidiata
A small Diaea sp Flower Spider, body length 3.5mm, likely to be D. dimidiatus based on the photo in Spiders of Australia, Mascord 1980 p. 109. Though Mascord's picture is dark there is a strong resemblance in shape, size, the brown patch around the eyes and and the light spots on the abdomen, which...
Diaea evanida (Flower Spider)
Diaea evanida is typical of Diaea species in that it has green legs and cephalothorax and a whitish-yellow abdomen with red markings. This allows it to hide on green leaves or in flowers and to catch insects by stealth. (Find-a-spider, USQ).
Flower spiders are diurnal and are common on...
Diaea prasina L. Koch, 1876 A Flower Spider
This spider was identified by the photograph on page 50 of Australian Spiders in colour by Ramon Mascord 1970. It is quite similar to Diaea evanida,...
Diaea sp. nov. C Szymkowiak 2010 Stripey Diaea
Dr Pawel Szymkowiak has provisionally called this species Diaea sp. nov. C based on specimens at the Australian collected from Mareeba North Queensland, but until he completes his revision of Australian Diaea he will not know if this spider actually belongs to that genus. It is a tiny...
Diaea variabilis?
A spider with spots somewhat Diaea like.
Hedana sp
A small-medium size Thomisid not hugely common, collected mid August 2009 in a patch of good quality remant dry rainforest known as "The Island" on...
Hedana sp
A small crab spider, the male body length 2-3mm, female 4-5mm legs I and II dark, the remainder transparent. Large cephalothorax in the male, relative to the abdomen.Typical Thomisid bulging eyes ringed with white, the carapace pale in the centre dark at the edges. Reasonably obvious large spiny hairs on the tibia.
Hedana valida L. Koch, 1875 Powerful Hedana
A green crab spider with orange spots. The spots tend to cluster at the rear of a cigar shaped abdomen where it is more wrinkled. The abdomen ends in a blunt yellow point. The whole spider can be plain green or even brownish. The first two pairs of legs are much more robust and longer than the others. The cephalothorax is relatively wide and slighly domed with orange on the eye region. The eyes are circled with white. Female body length up to 7mm, males to 5mm. The front legs can be somewhat...
Porropis flavifrons Koch, 1876 Yellow-browed Porropis
A crab spider with a yellow stripe across its forehead, hence the species name. It is the type species for the genus Porropis, erected by Koch...
Runcinia acuminata (Thorell, 1881) Pointy Runcinia
Known for a long time as Runcinia elongata, this spider is common from India to Australia and Japan. Female body length to about 10mm, males much...
Sidymella hirsuta (Koch, 1873) Hairy Crab Spider
A distinct species of Sidymella not uncommon in Brisbane but rarely noticed due to its camouflage on hairy plants. Like other Sidymella species the abdomen is triangular in shape. Hawkeswood reports that the male has a narower abdomen and is smaller (body length 4-5mm) than the female (body length...
Sidymella lobata? Small brown species
We see a great many of these small Sidymella sp. They look like Sidymella lobata in Hawkeswood and Mascord. These were collected mid June 2009 on...
Sidymella longipes (L. Koch, 1874) Longlegged Sidymella
A medium to large crab spider similar to Sidymella trapezia but with longer legs. Widely distributed on Australia's east coast, probably throughout Australasia. Females to 15mm males a little...
Sidymella rubrosignata
A crab spider only found in Australia most often on Dianellas. They wait for insects or other small invertebrates to ambush. Usually green, making...
Sidymella sp? with raised abdomen
This collection of Thomisids feature a raised and festooned end to the abdomen which in some other Sidymellas is simply triangular. They are flatter (except for the abdominal tip) and have longer legs I and II than some other small brown Sidymellas. This Sidymella was included in Mascord's Spiders...
Sidymella spp.
A number of Sidymella species exhibiting sometimes subtle sometimes extreme variation are collected here. It is possible that some are different...
Sidymella trapezia (L. Koch, 1874) Trapezoid Crab Spider
A pale, semi-transparent spider usually found on foliage, with a trapezium shaped abdomen. Darker markings follow the line of the body within the margins. Widespread and common across Australia from west to east including islands. Females to 7mm, males to 4mm. Smaller than Sidymella longipes and with more equally sized legs. Originally placed in Stephanopis by Koch in 1874, then into...
Stephanopis altifrons O.P. Cambridge Knobbly Crab Spider
Knobbly Crab Spider is a slow moving, relatively timid spider that relies on its camouflage against bark to avoid predators and to hide when waiting for prey. Females up to 10mm body length, males smaller but similar. Hawkeswood notes that the mature spiders mostly feed on other spiders.
Stephanopis barpipes Keyserling, 1890 Bearded-legs Stephanopis
A small crab spider in low foliage sometimes in great numbers. Adult females body length up to 7mm. The males are smaller but have longer legs I and...
Stephanopis cambridgei Thorell 1870 Large Bark Crab Spider
A widespread bark-dweller found from Queensland to Tasmania, females to 11mm, males smaller and more slender to 8mm. At rest the front legs are stretched out in front of the spider. The colour is variable depending on the bark it is living on and under, from grey to rich brown. The egg sac is made in the folded tip of a leaf. The leaf is secured by silk to a branch. (Mascord 1970). The species...
Stephanopis corticalis?
A small Stephanopis, of which there must be many species, hard to tell apart. Body length 4mm. Possibly S. corticalis. To determine Stephanopis...
Stephanopis pustulosa (informal)
This spider is a cryptic species, usually found on the bark of trees, its surface colours matching those of the bark. Females 7-12 mm, males 4-6 mm. The head is narrowed to a snout with eyes in this genus is almost Poltys-like. To determine Stephanopis species it seems you should look at the...
Stephanopis sp? A Stephanopis?
A distinctive looking large Stephanopis female body length about 10mm. Carapace rectangular, eye region slightly projecting, chelicerae apparently porrect (extending forward rather than down). The carapace has a rather flat rear edge and not much in the way of bumps and knobbles. It has a...
Tharpyna campestrata L. Koch, 1874 Rural Crab Spider
This crab spider is common throughout Australia especially in drier areas. The body length of female to 9mm, male to 7mm. Females and their egg sacs...
Tharpyna diademata L. Koch, 1874 (diamonded Tharpyna)
A small, bark-dwelling crab spider, the female to about 4mm, the male smaller, to 3mm. The body is very dark, essentially black, flattish, with a...
Thomisus sp. A Crab Spider
A Thomisid resembling Thomisus spectabilis but grey and distinctive as a separate spider.
Thomisus spectabilis (White Crab Spider)
A short, squat spider, from 3-11mm, common in Summer, Australia wide, active in the day time. Some can be very white (if living in white flowers). Some can be quite yellow. They sometimes have yellow-reddish ends to the translucent legs, and black markings at the rear of the trapezoidal abdomen.
Tmarus cinerascens (Crab spider)
A small grey crab spide able to run quickly and camouflage itself on paperbarks and other light coloured barks. Hunts on shrubs in the daylight.
Tmarus marmoreus Marbled Crab Spider
This Thomisid spider, female body length 5mm, male 4mm is a live-leaf-curling species. It is found on shrubs or trees where it hunts by ambush. It...
Xystics spp with a few Thomisus spectabilis males
These photos will be moved to their *proper* places soon.
Xysticus bilimbatus
A small Thomisid found on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) at the lagoon near the causeway, the entrance to the beach about one third the way down the back beach heading south. This spider is shown on page 105 of Mascord's 1980 book Spiders of Australia, where he notes that in New South Wales...
Xysticus geometres L. Koch, 1874 The Champion Measurer
This spider can be found in Spring and Summer in numbers in hard nests woven with live leaves, twigs and other debris on the outer fringes of low shrubs and trees, often wattles and gums. The species is only officially recorded for Queensland. The female has a body length of 6 mm, male 4 mm. Its...
Xysticus sp. Brown-fringed Xysticus
This page gathers together a few Thomisid species that elsewhere in the world would probably be called Xysticus. There are over 300 species in this genus world wide. Some Australian ones are distinctive and recognisable like Xysticus bilimbatus and X. geometres. Others like...