---
title: "Cricket Thief Spider"
description: "Thanatus vulgaris — Insects & spiders. Thanatus vulgaris is a species of running crab spider in the family Philodromidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/cricket-thief-spider
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Cricket Thief Spider

> Thanatus vulgaris — Insects & spiders. Thanatus vulgaris is a species of running crab spider in the family Philodromidae.

- Scientific name: *Thanatus vulgaris*
- Category: `insects` (Insects & spiders)
- Habitats: `grassland` (Fields & meadows)
- iNaturalist observations: 1241
- Wikidata: [Q1059338](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1059338)
- iNaturalist taxon: [232476](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/232476)

## Names

- en: Cricket Thief Spider

## Countries with the most observations

US (66), IL (35), ES (21), GB (21), FR (20), GR (11), ZA (7), DK (6), KZ (6), TR (5), CA (3), IN (3)

## Summary

Thanatus vulgaris is a species of running crab spider in the family Philodromidae. It is found in North America, Europe, North Africa, Turkey, Israel/Palestine , Caucasus, a range from Russia (European to Far East), Central Asia, China, and Korea.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanatus_vulgaris

## Photo

![Cricket Thief Spider](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/cricket-thief-spider/medium.jpg)

Photo: Qədirov Hüseyn · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/298403655

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/cricket-thief-spider?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).