Strange Looking Spider

[irisheyes 0]

I've seen a few of these threads on dz.com in the past and know you guys can be pretty good at identifying strange creatures. So, can any of you tell me what this is?

It is about the size of a nickel and the black part at the bottom is the head (I think). It looks more like a tiny crab to me than a spider, but, it has spun a web. I think there may actually be two of them living in the same web.

I've googled all sorts of descriptions. Maybe it is just that my googling skills are not up to par, but, I just can't seem to figure it out!

[LongWayToFall 0]

The dots make it look like a smiling, buck-toothed, horned devil. Hahaha.

[IanHarrop 37]

I googled your description "Strange Looking Spider looks like a crab"

This was the first hit http://www.enaturalist.org/question/6478

Click on the pics to enlarge, looks like the same thing in your pic.

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[LisaH 0]

It's cute!

Be yourself!
MooOOooOoo

[jtval 0]

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It's cute!

Here's a hint. They don't taste like crab.

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[irisheyes 0]

I googled everything but that!!!

Thank you!!!

[irisheyes 0]

It sort of does, doesn't it?

[irisheyes 0]

That was my first thought too. Then I began to worry about it being poisonous...you never know in SW Florida! Now I can go back to thinking its cute again!

[LisaH 0]

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It's cute!

Here's a hint. They don't taste like crab.

I don't eat bugs. I politely put them back outside.

Be yourself!
MooOOooOoo

[towerrat 0]

Don't know the military name but's it's just a common crab spider. They're everywhere here in Florida. Don't know if they bite but I'm pretty sure they won't kill you

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[towerrat 0]

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)
No Taxon (Entelegynes)
Family Araneidae (Orb Weavers)
Genus Gasteracantha
Species cancriformis (Spinybacked Orbweaver)
Other Common Names
Crab Spider, Spiny Orbweaver Spider, Crab-like Orbweaver Spider, Crab-like Spiny Orbweaver Spider, Jewel Spider, Spiny-bellied Orbweaver, Jewel Box Spider, Smiley Face Spider, Crablike Spiny Orbweaver.
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
G. elipsoides
Identification
This species can be easily distinguished from all other spiders. Females may be 5 to nearly 9 mm in length, but 10 to 13 mm wide. They have six pointed abdominal projections frequently referred to as "spines." The carapace, legs, and venter are black, with some white spots on the underside of the abdomen. The dorsum of the abdomen is, typically for Florida specimens, white with black spots and red spines. Specimens from other areas may have the abdominal dorsum yellow instead of white, may have black spines instead of red, or may be almost entirely black dorsally and ventrally.



Males are much smaller than females, 2 to 3 mm long, and slightly longer than wide. Color is similar to the female, except the abdomen is gray with white spots. The large abdominal spines are lacking, although there are four or five posterior small humps (Levi 1978, Muma 1971).
Range
It is found across the southern part of the United States from California to Florida, as well as in Central America, Jamaica, and Cuba. (Levi, 1978)
Habitat
It lives in woodland edges and shrubby gardens. Many of the studies on this spider have taken place in citrus groves in Florida. They frequently live in trees or around trees in shrubs. (Levi, 1978)
Season
Most common in the fall
Life Cycle
This species of spider does not live very long. In fact, the lifespan only lasts until reproduction, which usually takes place the spring following the winter when they hatched. Females die after producing an egg mass, and males die six days after a complete cycle of sperm induction to the female.
Remarks
This spider adds little tufts of silk to its web. According to Florida's Fabulous Spiders(1) "these little flags serve a warning function to prevent birds from flying into the web, destroying it."

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[irisheyes 0]

Very cool!!! Thanks for all the info.
I've lived in FL for years and have never seen one before...never even heard of them (obviously)!

Oh and I was not worried about me, I was worried about my puppies safety!

[BillyVance 34]

That spider looks like the Star Wars movie producers based the Phantom Menace's head off of.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[TrophyHusband 0]

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Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)

what spiders are not true spiders and what arachnids are not spiders?

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[Bertt 0]

Scorpions are not spiders.

You don't have to outrun the bear.

[marcandalysse 0]

plenty of them around here!

"The reason angels can fly is that they take themselves so lightly." --GK Chesterton