Bug FAQElegant crab spider
Xysticus elegans · Order: Araneae · Family: Thomisidae
The elegant crab spider is about 8 to 12 mm long for females and 4 to 5 mm for males, with males less than half the size of females. It has a brown cephalothorax with a lighter, sometimes white-outlined area, a light tan band across the eyes, and an abdomen marked with brown spots outlined in white. This species occurs in the United States, Canada and Alaska.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The cephalothorax is brown with a lighter area that may be outlined in white. A light tan band runs through the eye region and the abdomen shows brown spots outlined in white.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Females measure about 8 to 12 mm in body length. Males are about 4 to 5 mm long and are less than half the size of females.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its native range includes the United States, Canada and Alaska.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 35 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Maine, Massachusetts, North Dakota, West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Thomisidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xysticus_elegans
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.