Maratus volans
| Peacock spider | |
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| Maratus volans | |
| Courtship rituals in M. volans. | |
| Scientific classification | |
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| Species: | M. volans
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| Binomial name | |
| Maratus volans (O. P. Cambridge, 1874)
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| Synonyms | |
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Saitis volans | |
The Peacock spider or Gliding spider (Maratus volans) is a species of jumping spider.
Description
Octavius Pickard-Cambridge, who is credited with the first formal biological description and hence is noted as the person assigning it its current binomial name (Maratus volans), wrote in his original description that "it is difficult to describe adequately the great beauty of the colouring of this spider".[1]
The red, blue and black colored males have flap-like extensions of the abdomen with white hairs that can be folded down. They are used for display during mating: the male raises his abdomen, then expands and raises the flaps so that the abdomen forms a white-fringed, circular field of color. The species, and indeed the whole genus Maratus have been compared to peacocks in this respect. The third pair of legs is also raised for display, showing a brush of black hairs and white tips. While approaching the female, the male will vibrate his abdomen while waving raised legs and tail, and dance from side to side.[2]
Both sexes reach about 5 mm in body length. Females and immatures of both sexes are brown but have colour patterns by which they can be distinguished from related species
Distribution
M. volans is confined to southern parts of Australia (Queensland, New South Wales & Western Australia).[3]
Name
The species name means "flying" in Latin, because in his description of them O.P. Cambridge indicated that the person who sent him the specimens from New South Wales had told him that he had seen the spiders "actually using [the flaps] as wings or supporters to sustain the length of their leaps."
Gliding
A common urban myth is the belief that when the spider is leaping, it can use its flaps to extend the jump and glide short distances through the air. However, this belief has been debunked by the Australasian Arachnological Society.[4][5]
Relationships
While the courtship dance is similar to those of genus Saitis (the European S. barbipes also uses its third pair of legs for display), the two genera are probably not closely related.
Footnotes
- ^ Pickford-Cambridge, Octavius (1874). "On some new genera and species of araneidea". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Including Zoology, Botany, and Geology. Fourth series. 14 (81). London: Taylor & Francis: 160–182. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GgAbyYDFeg
- ^ Platnick 2009
- ^ http://www.australasian-arachnology.org/myths/maratus_cannot_fly
- ^ http://www.australasian-arachnology.org/download/Maratus_cannot_fly.pdf
See also
- Saitis barbipes - a European jumping spider bearing superficial similarities, but likely no close phylogenetic relationship
References
- Ed Nieuwenhuys: Peacock spider
- Platnick, Norman I. (2009): The world spider catalog, version 9.5. American Museum of Natural History.
- David Edwin Hill 2009: "Euophryine jumping spiders that extend their third legs during courtship (Araneaee: Salticidia: Euophryinae: Maratus, Saitis)". Peckhamia 74(1): 1-27.
- Jurgen C Otto and David E Hill 2011: "An illustrated review of the known peacock spiders of the genus Maratus from Australia, with description of a new species (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryinae)." Peckhamia 96.1: 1-27.
External links
