Concealment

Day 202: While walking around in my yard yesterday, I spotted a specimen of Misumena vatia on a dandelion, but my shadow fell across the flower as I knelt down to take a picture, startling the spider and sending it into concealment. I went out again today and on the same dandelion, saw what I presume to be the same spider, but once again, some vibration or fluctuation in the light alerted it to potential danger and it disappeared beneath the petals where it was out of sight from my eyes, but not from my lens. This species has often taken me by surprise when I've gathered ox-eye daisies (an invasive which should carry no guilt about picking) or other light-coloured flowers. It has a particular affinity for dandelions in western Washington and although its colouration is highly variable, the whitish-yellow form is arguably the most common. The pigmentation observed in any individual spider can change over the course of a few days, depending on the colour of the flower it inhabits.