Museums Victoria arachnologist Joseph Schubert has described seven new species of the peacock spider genus Maratus from Australia.
Maratus azureus. Image credit: Joseph Schubert.
Maratus is a relatively large genus of jumping spiders in the family Salticidae.
Members of this genus are commonly referred to as peacock spiders due to the males’ colorful and usually iridescent patterns on the upper surface of the abdomen often enhanced with lateral flaps or bristles. By contrast, females are cryptic in appearance and lack bright colors.
Peacock spiders are tiny spiders with a total body length mostly around 4-6 mm, and are most noted for their spectacular courtship display.
The genus now contains 85 recognized species, all of which — except Maratus furvus from China — are endemic to Australia.
Upper row, left to right: Maratus constellatus, Maratus inaquosus, and Maratus laurenae. Bottom row, left to right: Maratus noggerup, Maratus suae, and Maratus volpei. Image credit: Joseph Schubert.
In a paper published March 2020 in the journal Zootaxa, Schubert described seven new species of peacock spiders:
(i) Maratus azureus, Maratus constellatus, Maratus laurenae, Maratus noggerup, and Maratus suae from Western Australia;
(ii) Maratus volpei from South Australia;
(iii) Maratus inaquosus from Victoria.
“Some of these species were discovered by citizen scientists who documented the localities and sent images to me – their help is so important for this kind of research,” Schubert said.
“Males of these new species have remarkable iridescent colors and patterns on their abdomens, an identifying feature of peacock spiders used in their courtship displays.”
“I would have to say Maratus constellatus is my favorite by far — it’s such a nice looking species, the pattern reminds me of The Starry Night by Van Gogh. Plus I traveled a very, very long way to find it,” he added.
Schubert believes this is just the start of an ever-growing list of new discoveries about peacock spiders.
“I don’t think we are anywhere near done yet, considering how many species have only recently been discovered and how many sites are yet to be explored — I’m still actively on the hunt for new species of peacock spider.”
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Joseph Schubert. 2020. Seven new species of Australian peacock spiders (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryini: Maratus Karsch, 1878). Zootaxa 4758 (1): 001-044; doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4758.1.1
