The species ''Misumena vatia'' was first described by Swedish arachnologist and entomologist [[Carl Alexander Clerck]] in his book ''[[Svenska Spindlar|Aranei Svecici]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Clerck|first1=Carl|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/119890|title=Svenska spindlar : uti sina hufvud-slägter indelte samt under några och sextio särskildte arter beskrefne : och med illuminerade figurer uplyste|last2=Bergquist|first2=Carl|last3=Borg|first3=Eric|last4=Gottman|first4=Lorens|last5=Salvius|first5=Lars|date=1757|publisher=Literis Laur. Salvii|location=Stockholmiae|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.119890}}</ref> ''Misumena vatia'' belongs to the family Thomisidae, or spiders known as crab spiders. The family includes more than 20002,000&nbsp;species, which are found all over the world.<ref name=":16" /> The genus ''Misumena'' includes many other species which are found worldwide.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bern|first=Natural History Museum|title=NMBE - World Spider Catalog|url=https://wsc.nmbe.ch/|access-date=2021-03-22|website=wsc.nmbe.ch|language=en}}</ref> ''Misumena vatia'' falls into the Thomisus clade. Other clades in the family Thomisidae include the Borboropactus clade, the Epidius clade, and the Stephanopis clade.<ref name=":11">{{cite journal|last1=Benjamin|first1=Suresh P.|last2=Dimitrov|first2=Dimitar|last3=Gillespie|first3=Rosemary G.|last4=Hormiga|first4=Gustavo|date=2008|title=Family ties: molecular phylogeny of crab spiders (Araneae: Thomisidae)|journal=Cladistics|volume=24|issue=5|pages=708–722|doi=10.1111/j.1096-0031.2008.00202.x|s2cid=49532398|doi-access=free}}</ref>