Crab spider (Thmoisus onustus) with its prey, a Queen of Spain Fritillary (Issonia lathoria) - Ten Metres from Home 1.  (2020)
Crab spider (Thomisus onustus) with its prey, a Queen of Spain Fritillary (Issonia lathoria). In early summer crab spiders will sit on flowers such as lavender that attract butterflies and other insects such as bees. The prey can be large compared with the spider whose front legs are enormously strong compared with its size and it can hold and then paralyse the insect with its bite. Podere Montecucco, Orvieot, Italy photographed during lockdown. July 2020


Also in: Ten Metres from Home 1. (2020)

Centrocoris variegatus A conspicuously shaped bug
Checkered beetle (Trichodes alvearius
Checkered beetle (Trichodes alvearius) with honey bee (Apis mellifera)
White-tailed bumble bee ♂︎ (Bombus leucorum)
Crab spider (Misumena vatia) ♀︎ with its coccoon anchored to a leaf of Eryngium
Small heath (Coenonympha pamphilus)
Digger wasp (Sphex flavipennis).
The oak hawk (Marumba quercus )
The oak hawk (Marumba quercus )
Crab spider (Thomisus onustus) ♀︎
European garden spider (Araneus diadematus
Convolvulus hawk (Herse convolvulii) -
Buff tip ( Phalera bucephala)
Hairy Scolid wasp (Scolia hirta)
Spotted Fritillary (Melitaea didyma,) ♂︎