Tan crab spider

Xysticus ferox · Order: Araneae · Family: Thomisidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Tan crab spider
Photo: Justin Williams, CC BY

The brown crab spider is a member of the crab spider family Thomisidae. It lives in the United States and Canada.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Xysticus ferox is a crab spider in the family Thomisidae.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 38 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Illinois, Ohio, Maine, North Dakota, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Colorado.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Tan crab spider photo 2
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0
Tan crab spider photo 3
Photo: Timothy Lindsey, CC BY
Tan crab spider photo 4
Photo: Timothy Lindsey, CC BY
Tan crab spider photo 5
Photo: Jared Shorma, CC BY

Same family (Thomisidae)

Goldenrod Crab SpiderGoldenrod Crab SpiderMisumena vatiaHarmlessNapoleon SpiderNapoleon SpiderSynema globosumHeather crab spiderHeather crab spiderThomisus onustusWhite-banded Crab SpiderWhite-banded Crab SpiderMisumenoides formosipesNorthern Crab SpiderNorthern Crab SpiderMecaphesa asperataTriangle Crab SpiderTriangle Crab SpiderEbrechtella tricuspidata

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xysticus_ferox

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.