Looking like something out of a SCI-FI movie, the Green Lynx Spider awaits very inauspiciously to any prey should come his way.

GENERAL INFORMATION:
Lynx Spiders are hunting spiders that spend their lives on plants, flowers and shrubs. Nimble runners and jumpers, they rely on their keen eyesight to stalk, chase or ambush prey. Six of their eight eyes are arranged in a hexagon-like pattern, a characteristic that identifies them as members of the family Oxyopidae. They also have spiny legs.

This spider has a bright translucent green body with rows of small red spots and a red patch between the eyes. It has long thin legs, with rows of black spines. Green Lynx spiders are mostly plant dwellers, and bites occur as the person walks through the foliage. This bite is extremely painful, burning, and itching may cause surrounding (edema) swelling up to 7"-10" in diameter. These bites resolve spontaneously in several days.

Some members of the genus Oxyopes are abundant enough to be important in agricultural systems as biological control agents.

Picture taken in my back yard (Fort Worth, Texas)