Misumena vatia

This subject could have been called "Death Kiss on a Bed of Roses".
This Misumena vatia, a crab spider of the Thomisidae family, had chosen this place amongst roses to wait for its preys...

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The spot was a good one. The first day, it captured a first hoverfly (Syrphus ribesii).

The next day, another one, a Marmelade fly (Episyrphus balteatus).

One can see, on this last picture, how the spider sticks it mouthpieces in the prey to inject an enzym which will liquefy the content, which gets aspired.

On the left, we can even see the trace of the mouthpiece in the syrphid eye.

When the prey is nothing more than an empty shell, the spider throws it overboard and returns to its hide, where it is rather difficult to see.

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