---
title: "Heather crab spider"
description: "Thomisus onustus — Owady i pająki. Thomisus onustus is a crab spider belonging to the genus Thomisus."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/pl/animal/heather-crab-spider
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Heather crab spider

> Thomisus onustus — Owady i pająki. Thomisus onustus is a crab spider belonging to the genus Thomisus.

- Scientific name: *Thomisus onustus*
- Category: `insects` (Owady i pająki)
- Habitats: `grassland` (Łąki i pola)
- iNaturalist observations: 20625
- Wikidata: [Q134973](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134973)
- iNaturalist taxon: [59281](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/59281)

## Names

- en: Heather crab spider
- de: Gehöckerte Krabbenspinne
- es: Araña Cangrejo europea
- fr: Thomise enflée
- nl: Bloemkrabspin

## Countries with the most observations

ES (4256), FR (3790), IT (2556), PT (1680), GR (1045), DE (769), UA (737), RU (425), AT (383), HR (321), IL (286), BG (246)

## Summary

Thomisus onustus is a crab spider belonging to the genus Thomisus. These spiders are found across Europe, North Africa, and parts of the Middle East and Asia. T. onustus reside in flowers in lowland vegetation. Females are distinguished by their larger size and ability to change color between white, yellow, and pink as a means of matching flower color. This cryptic mimicry allows them to both evade predators and enhance insect prey capture abilities. Males are smaller, more slender, and drab in coloration, usually green or brown. T. onustus is also distinguished from other relatives by its distinct life cycle patterns…

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

## Photo

![Heather crab spider](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/heather-crab-spider/medium.jpg)

Photo: Felix Puff · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/81006294

## Machine access

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