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Sure enough, he finds the culprit: A white crab spider had snagged the butterfly.

“And then you look up ‘crab spider,’ and you find that spider can turn yellow when it’s on goldenrod, and … ” he trailed off, the ands seemingly infinite.

She discovered a lovely yellow crab spider, Thomisus onustus, in the act of devouring a small insect.

The crab spider is less lovely to look at than a dolphin or horse, but more lovely than its name might lead you to expect.

One particular crab spider, so named for its ability to scuttle sideways and backward, appears to be ubiquitous.