This tiny spider, belonging to a genus of crab spiders, was spotted by luck on the bark of our felled buddleia. We just happened to notice a tiny creature shuffling about and on closer inspection discovered this fantastic looking spider.
We suspect it may be Ozyptila praticola but we were just not confident enough to call it. There are 9 species of Ozyptila in Great Britain and according to Wikipedia 101 species world wide.
The genus Ozyptila belongs to the family Thomisidae, and this is the third species (at the time of writing, March 2024) of this family we have recorded in the Garden. The other two being our Garden regular the Flower Crab Spider (Misumena vatia) and a Xysticus species.
Due to it’s tiny size, around 2-4mm, there is a reasonable chance we simply have overlooked it before.
Wildlife Garden 