Eurasian green crab spider
This tiny green spider can shift its colour to match its surroundings, but the change takes several days rather than the instant switch many people imagine.
| Where | Oak leaves and broadleaf woodland |
|---|---|
| Size | Male 3 to 4 mm, female 5 to 7.3 mm body length |
| When | February to December |
The Eurasian green crab spider is a small, green-legged crab spider with a cream-yellow abdomen marked by a brown patch, found mostly on the leaves of oak and other broadleaf trees and conifers. Females reach 5 to 7.3 mm in body length and males a smaller 3 to 4 mm.
It waits motionless on foliage to ambush passing insects rather than building a web, gripping prey with its long front legs. Subadults spend the winter under the bark of dead wood, with adults appearing from spring into the following winter across broadleaf woodland.
Traits
Habitat
Woodland
Colour
Green, Yellow, Brown
Active
Day
To people
Not known to bite people; it stays camouflaged among leaves and is rarely noticed even when close by.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
The triangle crab spider is usually found in open meadows and sunny forest edges rather than tree foliage, and males show a dark, bottle-shaped mark along the abdomen that the Eurasian green crab spider lacks.
Questions
Is the Eurasian green crab spider dangerous to people?
Not known to bite people; it stays camouflaged among leaves and is rarely noticed even when close by.
When can you see the Eurasian green crab spider?
The Eurasian green crab spider can be seen from February to December, by day.
Plate retouched from a museum specimen photo by Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns, CC BY 4.0, GBIF Licence
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Last updated 2026-09-27. Every entry is checked against published sources.