Synema globosum

Napoleon spider

The black pattern on the female's yellow, red or white abdomen is said to resemble Napoleon's silhouette in his hat, giving this crab spider its common name.

Where	Flowering plants in warm, open habitats
Size	Male 2 to 4 mm, female 6.8 to 8 mm body length
When	March to September

Males are glossy black with a pair of white marks on the abdomen, while the much larger females carry a rounded, lens shaped abdomen in yellow, red or white marked with a bold black pattern; legs are black with brown rings in both sexes.

Like other crab spiders it spins no web, instead sitting motionless on flowering plants such as umbellifers to ambush visiting insects. It is most often found from spring through late summer across warm, open parts of its range.

Traits

Habitat

Grassland

Colour

Black, Yellow, Red

Active

Day

To people

This spider is not dangerous to people; like other crab spiders it has no reason to bite and simply drops off a flower or hides if disturbed.

Activity through the year

JFMAMJJASOND

Often confused with

Triangle crab spiderOpen entry ›

Ebrechtella tricuspidata

Also a small crab spider on flowers, but females have a greenish prosoma and legs rather than the black, and males show a brown abdomen with a dark bottle shaped pattern instead of the bold black on yellow, red or white Napoleon like pattern.