Flower Spider

I discovered this yellow and reddish Flower Spider patiently waiting to "embrace" it's next unsuspecting victim, either a bee, butterfly, or some other flower-visiting insect.

Yellow and red Flower Spider

Flower Spiders are members of the Crab Spider Family (Thomisidae), and these ambush predators will lie in wait on flowers and capture visiting insects with their two pairs of powerful front legs. Once captured, the Flower Spider bites the insect with it's venomous fangs. The spider venom kills the insect and helps digest it from the inside out, allowing the flower spider to suck it dry. Bites of some larger Flower Spiders can cause some pain, but are not dangerous to humans. I've photographed a lot of flowers and have never been bothered or bitten by these common spiders, so I don't think that they are aggressive towards humans.

Flower Spiders come in a wide variety of colors, and some of them are dark while others are quite pale, and some Flower Spiders are even able to change their colors to match their particular flowers. Their flower-like coloration is an effective camouflage that helps keep Flower Spiders from being seen by either their sharp-eyed predators like birds or their insect prey as these spiders wait in plain sight on flowers to ambush their next unsuspecting victim.

Update: Some kind readers informed me that this spider is a Whitebanded Crab Spider (Misumenoides formosipes).