Thomisus spectabilis
White Flower Spider Identification in Australia
White-to-yellow flower ambush spider with a broad angular abdomen and enlarged front legs, often waiting motionless for pollinating insects.
Usually low riskThe white flower spider or spectacular crab spider, Thomisus spectabilis, is an exact species of flower-dwelling crab spider recorded in Australia. A mature female is roughly 10 mm or less in body length, with a broad angular abdomen and the first two leg pairs longer and heavier than the rear pairs. She often sits on a pale flower with those front legs open to seize visiting insects. White and yellow are normal colour states, and research shows that a spider that looks camouflaged to us may contrast strongly in ultraviolet to a bee. Colour, flower choice or the crab-like pose alone cannot prove the species because Australia has many similar Thomisidae.
Quick identification
- Smooth white, cream or yellow body in the common adult-female form
- Broad, short and angular abdomen, sometimes with small dark rear marks
- First and second leg pairs longer, thicker and more strongly spined than the hind legs
- Sideways crab-like stance with the enlarged front legs open toward visiting insects
- Usually on a flower or nearby vegetation without a prey-catching web
What to check next
Photograph the spider directly above and from the front or side, measure body length without legs, and include the flower and wider plant. Compare the abdomen outline, eye area and leg proportions; keep an uncertain juvenile, male or blurry image at family level.
When to seek medical help
James Cook University describes a bite, if it occurs, as capable of mild localised pain; no useful species-specific Australian case series establishing more serious effects was found. Thomisus spectabilis is not listed among Australia’s medically important spiders, but it should not be handled. For a witnessed minor bite, wash the area and apply a cold pack for pain. Call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 if symptoms concern you, seek medical advice for severe or persistent pain, worsening swelling or illness, and call 000 for collapse, breathing difficulty or anaphylaxis. Do not use this minor-bite guidance when the spider could instead be a funnel-web or mouse spider; those uncertain large dark-spider bites need emergency pressure immobilisation and 000.
Where it is usually seen
Flowers and adjoining foliage in gardens, shrublands, woodland edges and other sunny flowering vegetation. James Cook University records the species at Townsville and notes white or pale flowers and the undersides of leaves; Atlas occurrence data are strongly concentrated in Queensland, with smaller clusters and scattered records elsewhere.