Green Lynx Spider

Filed under: Garden Pest

With its keen eyesight and great agility (and usually camouflaged by green foliage), the green lynx spider is an effective predator of other insects.

—image courtesy of Leanne Dick

This bright green spider lives on plants (where it's well camouflaged) and patrols for insects, quickly pouncing on them in catlike fashion.

About 3/4-inch long and very agile, the green lynx spider (Peucetia viridans) is an indiscriminate eater of insects. Although it preys on many significant agricultural pests such as harmful caterpillars, it also eats beneficial bugs as well, including butterflies, wasps, pollinating flies and even honeybees. The green lynx doesn't spin a web.

Found throughout the southern U.S, the green lynx spider poses no threat to humans.