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Peacock Spiders
Maratus jactatus
32.8443, -97.1431
Field Notes
Description:
The Sparklemuffin spider was discovered in southeast Queensland by UC Berkeley graduate student Maddie Girard in 2015. Males of the species have red and blue stripes on their midsections and display a fan-like body part called a patella during their mating dance. They also raise one of their legs and display it to the female. Females are usually a plain brown color and lack the vibrant coloring of males
Habitat:
Peacock spiders have only been found in Australia. Occasionally the species Maratus furvus from China gets a mention. However its inclusion in the genus Maratus is more of a historic artefact. It is a species that is poorly described and nothing in that description indicates that it is a peacock spider.
While some species are known from tropical areas, the majority is restricted to the southern half of the continent. Most species live in the temperate or subtropical southwest or southeast of the continent. Some species prefer coastal areas, even beaches, others can be found on mountain tops, swamps or even desert-like environments. David Hill and I have produced a Catalogue of the Australian peacock spiders. In it you can find a map for each species that shows you where it has been found so far. Information on their habitat is also in the series of publications in which David and I named these species and described their behaviour. The only species not yet included in the catalogue, because it was described after the last edition was published, is Maratus nemo. It will be added in the next version.
Most native habitats are suitable for peacock spiders but whether you come across them depends on how hard you search and luck. Most species can be found on the ground or on small twigs strewn on the ground. The best way of finding them is simply to slowly walk along a path and carefully observe what moves. You can find some good information on where peacock spiders live and how to find them in the YouTube series Look Closer.
Remember to tread carefully when you look for them, and if you want to be sure not to kill any accidentally it is probably best to stay on a path. During summer the females will look after their brood, inside a silken chamber (egg sac) they attach to debris. The spiders in these egg sacs don't move when you approach and together with their brood will almost certainly be killed if you step on them.
Best time to find them is in the morning or afternoon. During midday they usually hide.
Notes:
Maratus jactatus (colloquially named sparklemuffin)[2] is a species of the genus Maratus (peacock spiders), an Australian member of the jumping spider family. Maratus jactatus are from the jumping spider group Salticidae.[3] The name jactatus is Latin for rocking - derived from their signature mating rituals. Maratus jactatus have the ability to jump lengths up to 50 times their size. They have been collected only in Wondul Range National Park in southern Queensland.[4] Sparklemuffins are very small spiders that range from being four to six millimeters in length, similar to the length of a grain of rice. The males are close to four and one half millimeters long, which is smaller compared to the female who are about five and three tenths millimeters long.[3
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