The following is excerpted from Wild Vision Adventures In Observation, A Monthly Newsletter for Texas Wildlife Interpreters, Published by Wild Vision, September 1995 Volume 1, Issue 4.
The goldenrods are blooming now. The showy yellow flowers attract an array of insect pollinators. This, in turn, attracts a variety of predators that sit and wait for unsuspecting victims. Selected details from the lives of two of these predators are detailed below.
Ambush Bug:
"Look carefully among the blossoms of goldenrod for a well-camouflaged insect, about one-half inch long, colored with yellow and brown or black. It is roughly hourglass-shaped, slow-moving, and has claw-like parts on its front legs. It is harmless and can be picked up."
Crab Spider:
"It is called the crab spider because its front two pairs of legs are longer than the others and held out in front of the spider, giving it a slight resemblance to a crab. Also, it walks better sideways than forward and backward. The spiders are either light yellow or white, depending on the color of the flower they are on. They can change from one color to the other in about ten days. In either color phase, they have a red stripe on each side of the abdomen."
Reference:
Stokes, Donald W.. A Guide to Observing Insect Lives. Boston, Mass: Little, Brown & Company ltd., 1983. pp.215-218
Natural History of North Central Texas Index
Royce & LuCretia Milam Copyright © September 1995 Wild Vision. All rights reserved.