Maratus volans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gliding spider | ||||||||||||||||
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| Maratus volans (O. P-Cambridge, 1874) |
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Saitis volans |
The Peacock spider or Gliding spider (Maratus volans) is a species of jumping spider. 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 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.
M. volans is confined to eastern parts of Australia (Queensland, New South Wales).
