''Misumessus'' is a genus of North American and Caribbean

crab spiders The Thomisidae are a family of spiders, including about 170 genera and over 2,100 species. The common name crab spider is often linked to species in this family, but is also applied loosely to many other families of spiders. Many members of th ...

first described by Nathan Banks in 1904. They look similar to members of ''

Misumena ''Misumena'' is a genus of crab spiders sometimes referred to as flower crab spiders. They are similar in appearance to several other genera in the family Thomisidae, such as '' Misumenoides'' and '' Mecaphesa''. ''Misumena vatia'', the goldenro ...

'', but are much spinier. It was considered a monotypic genus until 2017, but its taxonomic standing has been debated throughout the 20th century, first as a synonym of ''

Misumenops ''Misumenops'' is a common genus of crab spider with more than 50 described species. The majority of the species Mesumenops, more than 80, have been transferred to 13 genera: '' Ansiea'', '' Demogenes'', ''Diaea'', '' Ebelingia'', '' Ebrechtell ...

'', then later as its subgenus. It was raised to genus status in 2008, but has still been confused with similar genera, some of which were only known by character descriptions made by

Eugène Simon Eugène Louis Simon (; 30 April 1848 – 17 November 1924) was a French naturalist who worked particularly on insects and spiders, but also on birds and plants. He is by far the most prolific spider taxonomist in history, describing over 4, ...

nearly fifty years earlier.

Species

it contains seven species: *'' Misumessus bishopae'' Edwards, 2017 – Puerto Rico, Dominica, Grenadines *'' Misumessus blackwalli'' Edwards, 2017 – Bermuda *'' Misumessus dicaprioi'' Edwards, 2017 – USA *'' Misumessus lappi'' Edwards, 2017 – USA *'' Misumessus oblongus'' (Keyserling, 1880) – Canada, USA *'' Misumessus quinteroi'' Edwards, 2017 – Central America, Caribbean *'' Misumessus tamiami'' Edwards, 2017 – USA

References

Thomisidae Monotypic Araneomorphae genera Spiders of North America Spiders of Central America {{Thomisidae-stub