---
title: "Swift Crab Spider"
description: "Mecaphesa celer — Insects & spiders. Mecaphesa celer, known generally as the swift crab spider, is a species of crab spider in the family Thomisidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/swift-crab-spider
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Swift Crab Spider

> Mecaphesa celer — Insects & spiders. Mecaphesa celer, known generally as the swift crab spider, is a species of crab spider in the family Thomisidae.

- Scientific name: *Mecaphesa celer*
- Category: `insects` (Insects & spiders)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 3614
- Wikidata: [Q10792063](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10792063)
- iNaturalist taxon: [202572](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/202572)

## Names

- en: Swift Crab Spider
- es: Araña cangrejo de puntos

## Countries with the most observations

US (1207), CA (6)

## Summary

Mecaphesa celer, known generally as the swift crab spider, is a species of crab spider in the family Thomisidae. Its range is quite large, and it is found throughout much of North and Central America.
M. celer are sit-and-wait predators who hide out on the flowers and upper stalks of plants, waiting for prey to pass by. As a variety of crab spider, they have characteristically long first two pairs of legs which they use to grab prey. M. celer spin webs only for creating egg sacs and as part of mating, not for hunting.
The spider is a notable example of a species that displays sexual size dimorphism (SSD), a phenomenon…

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

## Photo

![Swift Crab Spider](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/swift-crab-spider/medium.jpg)

Photo: Kirstie S · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/228733235

## Machine access

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