Misumena vatia (Clerck, 1757) Discussion
goldenrod crab spider
Comments on June 3, 2007 Observation
Pamela Martin
44.4297, -77.2302
1
Submitted: June 11, 2007 at 7:08:42 AM MST
![Misumena vatia (Pamela Martin [June 3, 2007])](/observers/images/uploaded/Thumb_30_2007-6-11_Misumena vatia.jpg)
The spider was found on an Eastern Wahoo that was very heavily infested with Yponomeuta cagnagella (Euonymus Caterpillar).
She was apparently attempting to eat a caterpillar or two, but seemed not to find them to her liking. The caterpillar is the larva of a European moth, the spindle ermine moth, a specialist of the spindle bush, a European euonymus, that has taken to the native euonymus, the eastern wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus).
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David P. Shorthouse wrote on June 11, 2007 at 8:47:12 PM MST
That's a fantastic and very unusual shot of M. vatia. I wasn't familiar with that moth so did some brief digging for an image and found one here: http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/Files/Live/Living06.2F.shtml.