Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Species profile: Peacock spider



Hello again, welcome back to animals under threat. So far we have covered the Lion, Common agama, and the Red fox. Today, we will be covering the Peacock spider (Maratus Volans).



The Peacock spider is a small spider around 2-6mm that belongs to the genus (Maratus), a group of jumping spiders that resides in Australia. Female peacock spiders are characterized by their dull brown/beige colour while males have brightly coloured abdomens and elongated third legs that are brown/black tipped with white (Girard & Endler, 2014).
Male spider on right by Jurgen Otto and female spider on left by Australian Museum, Sydney

Peacock spider feed on a variety of insects, including other spiders by stalking their prey. This has led to the peacock spider having a wandering lifestyle in search of prey instead of waiting with a web like other spiders (Girard & Endler, 2014). During the breeding season, male peacock spiders will perch in an area that allows them to be seen by females. The male peacock will wave its ornamented abdominal flaps and elongated third legs to nearby females (Girard et al, 2015). 

Male peacock spiders have to be careful when displaying to females because if the male fails to impress the female spider, the female will kill and eat him (Mendez et al, 2017). If he is successful in his dance, he will be allowed to mate with the female. However, after mating, the female kills and eat him. This happens in a lot of spider species. Below is a video by Madeline B. Girard of a male peacock spider performing a dance for a female.

As this species is relatively new and more are being found in Australia, it is difficult to tell if humans have an impact on this species. Environmental impacts can include loss of their natural habitat which affects their prey that they feed on and global warming increasing temperature leading to increased dry seasons in the rainforest.

Next time, we will be covering on a deer that is native to East Asia and don’t lose it spots when they reach adulthood.

References
Girard, M.B. & Endler, J.A. 2014, "Peacock spiders", Current Biology, vol. 24, no. 13, pp. R588-R590.

Girard, M.B., Elias, D.O. & Kasumovic, M.M. 2015, "Female preference for multi-modal courtship: multiple signals are important for male mating success in peacock spiders", Proceedings: Biological Sciences, vol. 282, no. 1820, pp. 1-10.

Girard, Madeline B et al. “Multi-modal courtship in the peacock spider, Maratus volans (O.P.-Cambridge, 1874).” PloS one vol. 6,9 (2011): e25390. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0025390

Mendez, V., McGinley, R. & Taylor, P. 2017, "Mating-induced sexual inhibition in the jumping spider Servaea incana (Araneae: Salticidae): A fast-acting and long-lasting effect", PLOS ONE, vol. 12, no. 10, pp. e0184940.


Picture references





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