A terrifying-looking bright yellow spider has been photographed in the UK.
An image of the critter was shared to Reddit this week by a curious Brit wanting to know what they had come across. They wrote in the r/WhatsThisBug subreddit: "What is this bright yellow spider? Spotted this morning in Richmond London UK."
Replying to the post, an insect expert identified the spider by its Latin name Misumena vatia. It's more commonly known as the goldenrod crab spider or flower crab spider because of its unique ability to walk sideways as well as forwards and backwards. The original poster said in response: "Interesting. I did think it was somehow reminiscent of a crab when I saw it."
Brits will be glad to hear that these spiders - which are also found in North America and elsewhere in Europe - only grow to be around 1cm long if they are female and 0.5cm if they are male. They have venom that allows them to hunt insects much larger than themselves, but this venom is harmless for humans.
Bizarrely, the spiders can also camouflage themselves to match the colour of the flower they are hunting on, transforming from yellow to white. It can take them up to 25 days to completely change colour, and it is only the females that can do this. "I didn’t know there were colour changing spiders," someone else wrote on Reddit. And like many other spiders, female goldenrod crab spiders sometimes cannibalise their male partners after they are done mating.
According to the Spider and Harvestman Recording Scheme website, adults of both sexes have been recorded in Britain between May and August, but mainly in May and June, meaning now is the best time to find them (for anyone brave enough to try and seek one out).