THREE CRAB SPIDERS AND THEIR PREY

Spiders from a few genera in the Thomisidae family are commonly called ground crab spiders. They are mostly brown and grey, but in many shades of those two colors, and are well camouflaged on the soil or bark. Not all known species have that dull mymetic coloration, but as far as I know, all the ground crab spiders in my area are brown or gray.
In today's post, I'll show you three species. Two from the genus Xysticus, and one from the genus Bassaniodes. I photographed each spider with an insect in its fangs.
Of the two genera I mentioned, Xysticus is the one with more species: about 300 worldwide. Quite unsurprisingly, most ground crab spiders in my area belong to that genus.
The genus Bassaniodes has only 39 species. The Bassaniodes spider in this post is the only Bassaniodes I ever photographed.
And now, before starting to upload the most interesting part of the post, which means the photographs, I will tell you the scientific name of all three species and a sentence or two about each of them. I will also write the appropriate name of the species on one photograph depicting that species.

Let's start with Xysticus cristatus. In the photographs I'm about to present you here today, this ground crab spider is posing with a bug from the Pentatomidae family, a shield bug, in other words. The bug in question is Aelia acuminata. Xysticus cristatus is commonly known as the common crab spider or the ground crab spider. With many very look-alike species around, identifying the right species is very confusing. Preparing this post gave me a fair amount of headache.
Xysticus cristatus is mainly found on low vegetation, on grass, for example, like in these shots, or on the ground, always in sunny, open spaces. It doesn't tolerate dark, shady environments, so you won't find it in the forest or dense maquis that surround the meadows.
Like most crab spiders (Thomisidae), it is an ambush ptredator which spends much time sitting still, with its forelegs spread wide.
Xysticus cristatus often takes prey much larger than itself.

Let's continue with Xysticus lanio, a spider that looks a lot like Xysticus cristatus but is generally considerably smaller, and can be found on shrubs and trees, often in the forests. In these photographs, Xysticus lanio is posing on the orchid that was growing near an oak sapling at the edge of the meadow. The prey in its fangs is a shield bug, but in this case, I wasn't able to identify the species.

And now, let's end with Bassaniodes robustus. This ground crab spider can be relatively easily set apart from the previous two. If you take a good look at the photographs and compare them, you'll see why. I mean, it just looks kinda different, don't you think? The difference is quite subtle, I agree, but still, if you concentrate, it is hard to miss.
In the photographs presented in this post, the spider has caught a solitary bee. Can't tell you what solitary bee exactly, what species we have here.
Bassaniodes robustus is a fairly new addition to the genus Bassaniodes. The species was first described in 1832 as Thomisus robustus. It was transferred to the genus Xysticus in 1875 and then to Bassaniodes in 2019. Will it stay there? Probably yes, I'd say, but considering the history, I'd also like to say: Who can know for sure? I most certainly can't.

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And that's all. The post ends here. Hope you like spiders, as all good people do. You know how they say, if you don't like babies, spiders, Hollywood endings, centipedes, and puppies-who the hell are you? Where's your soul gonna go?