Goldenrod spiders common here in UK?

[emperor]

We found a female Goldenrod spider in our back garden. Are they common to the UK or rare?

[jules_sm]

From all the information I can find, they are mainly found in North America and South Canada.

Variations of Crab Spiders are however found, pretty much world wide so is it possible that this was a different species of crab spider rather than a goldenrod specifically?

[Geoff F]

Which species do you mean by the term 'Goldenrod'?

If you can be more specific we will try to help.

[emperor]

Found a picture on net and spider is virtually identical. Site said Goldenrod crab spider female in white or yellow, male is brown in colour. No web either

[UB4 gardener]

welcome to WAB
if you mean the yellow/ white crab spider misumena vatia here is a distribution map.
NBN Gateway: Misumena vatia grid map

Chris

[Geoff F]

That sounds a bit like Misumena vatia very common spiders which can occur in a number of colour forms but mostly based on white or yellow for females.

Although they are common they are often overlooked because they hide amongst the petals of similar coloured flowers then pounce of prey that comes too close.

This Spider Identification Site might prove useful.

Thumbnails to identify spiders in NW_Europe

[emperor]

Ok Goeff. Can you see the photo on the image Gallery? I dont know a thing about spiders apart from they come in all sorts of shapes, colours and sizes.
This one is particularly fascinating as it has no web but still catches food. It also gets quite aggressive when approached.

[emperor]

Had a look at the pics of Nw Europe spiders. None like this one though

[UB4 gardener]

that is indeed misumena vatia quite common in the UK less common up north.

Chris

[Geoff F]

It is surprising how they can catch prey which is much larger and stronger than they are.