A few weeks ago one of the plants in our garden seemed to become infested with aphids of all sizes and shapes seemingly overnight. Also hidden within the plant and well camouflaged was a wonderful Aphid eating spider.
Once their prey was sighted the spider quickly moved in and made quick work of an medium sized green Aphid.
Given the number of Aphids present this guy will have quite a feast.
We also noticed numerous lady bugs and damselflies feasting away on the smaller aphids as well. Natural pest control at work.
nature has no boss 
Fascinating! I wish I had these natural aphid predators in my garden ‘cause my begonias and clematis can’t shake their aphid infestations after repeated attempts to get rid of them.
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HI, that little spider did do a fine job with the aphids. Sorry to hear about your aphid problem. I will ask this little guy if I can send him your way.
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Thanks! 🙂
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Your welcome.
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Great pictures! I have tried many times to get pictures of these crab spiders, but they are so small and blend in so well, I can’t get a sharp focus on them. Glad to get a good look at one here.
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HI and thanks. We were a it lucky as while we were watching the aphids the crab spider blew into the frame of the camera on a single thread of silk, landed and went to work. They then hung around for more photos. They do been in well.
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Lovely spider
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and quite and effective methods of aphid control.
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Great macro, Mike. Spiders don’t get enough lens time, IMHO.
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Hi Shannon and yes spiders and all those little critters like spiders are not photographed enough and when they are they tend to portrayed a creepy. Probably they all need a story of what they do for us and how intelligent and amazing those little creatures we share the world with actually are.
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very interesting.. what a lovely tiny spider.
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Thanks Vicki, hope your weeks off to a great start.
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wow! Love seeing this nature-balancing act at work, Mike, and your photos are incredible. The spider is so well camouflaged, and so light, it took me a minute to find it, and I gasped when I did.
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HI Jet and thanks. We got luck and this spider blew into our frame on a thread of silk making seeing him easy. If he has been lying still in a flower it would have been pretty difficult.
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Beautiful shots!
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Thanks.
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Amazing! Wish we could harness this kind of pest control successfully so we didn’t need pesticides and the damage they are doing.
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Hi Graham, I agree. Perhaps if we cut back on the pesticides they might not kill off the beneficial predators like this spider and we should not need them in most cases.
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Nature’s pest control – the best balance!
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Agreed and fun to watch as well.
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