Xysticus elegans

Xysticus elegans, the elegant crab spider, is a species of spiders found in the USA, Canada and Alaska.

Xysticus elegans
Xysticus limbatus.—89, female. 90, male.


Illustration in The Common Spiders of the United States. (Ginn & Company. Boston. 1902)
by James Henry Emerton (1847 – 1931)

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Thomisidae
Genus: Xysticus
Species:
X. elegans
Binomial name
Xysticus elegans
Keyserling, 1880
Synonyms
  • Xysticus borealis (Keyserling, 1884)
  • Xysticus limbatus (Emerton, 1892)

Appearance

Xysticus elegans is a medium-sized crab spider. Its body length is described as about 8-12 mm and 4-5 mm for females and males respectively.[1][2] X. elegans is described as showing strong sexual dimorphism in size; Males in this species tend to be less than half the size of females.[1] X. elegans has a brown cephalothorax that has a lighter area, sometimes this lighter area is outlined in white.[2] It has a light tan band through the eye region and an abdomen that has brown spots outlined in white. It has brown legs.

The femora and patellae of females of this species tend to be paler than those of males, who tend to have femora and patellae that are nearly black.[2]

References
  1. "Elegant Crab Spider". Fontenelle Forest Nature Search. 2018-10-04. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
  2. "Xysticus elegans, elegant crab spider: brief facts, taxonomy, images at GeoChemBio". www.geochembio.com. Retrieved 2020-09-11.


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