Maratus pavonisCommon name: Dunn's Peacock Spider

Meaning of name: Unknown.

Distribution: Reported from southern parts of Australia.

Description: This spider was approximately 4 millimetres long. All male peacock spiders have colourful patterns on their abdomen, but each species has a different pattern. Female peacock spiders are brown.

Notes: When a male peacock spider sees a female peacock spider he opens up two flaps of coloured skin from the sides of his abdomen, raises them up like a peacock’s tail and starts dancing. While doing a little side-stepping move he lifts his third pair of legs, which have white tips, and waves them around. The male attempts to make his dance the best the female has ever seen so that they can make lots of beautiful babies together.

We have photographed this species in September and October.

References: Arachne.org.au http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=2446

Atlas of Living Australia https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/1f701f08-4aed-4edf-a45e-1d18a659182f#overview

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