People are accustomed to the fact that spiders are vile and disgusting creatures. They see in them monsters that kill everyone in their path. However, the truth is that not all representatives of this family have a terrifying appearance. Moreover, there are even those who can please others with their cute coloring and funny character. And the best proof of this is the peacock spider (photos of the arthropod are presented below).
General view information
This type of spider lives exclusively in Australia. It was first studied by the English preacher Octavius Cambridge in 1874. Then the famous zoologist made a serious mistake, ranking the peacock spider as flying insect-like. He even came up with the loud name Salticus Volans, where the first word is an indication of the genus, and the second is marching from the Latin word “fly”.
However, in 1991, the Polish zoologist Marek абabka thoroughly proved that a peacock spider can’t fly. Moreover, he doesn’t even have wings, and he makes his “heavenly” journeys thanks to his muscular legs. Nevertheless, for many years, the prefix volans took root, and they did not want to change it. Only the word salticus was turned into a apparatus, thereby adding the species to a special group of horse spiders.
Incredible beauty
The peacock spider has an unusual appearance. It cannot be confused with any other species. However, before proceeding with its description, it is necessary to mention one very important detail. Males miliary volans externally are very different from females. Unlike the "gray" ladies, gentlemen are painted in colorful rainbow colors.
The main advantage of males is the abdomen. It consists of solid plates on which an abstract design is engraved. Most often, it consists of circles and stripes of blue, placed on a yellow or orange background. In addition, in the palette of a peacock spider, green, red and purple shades can be found.
Otherwise, males and females are quite similar. So, these are small creatures, rarely growing more than 5 mm in length. The two hind pairs of paws are much larger than the front, as they are responsible for the high jumps of the insect. In addition, the peacock spider from head to toe is covered with light hair, which, like fluff, sticks out in different directions.
Diet and method of hunting
Maratus volans is a purebred predator. Despite his tiny size, he with the courage of a tiger rushes at all the insects that crawl next to him. The main weapon of the spider is its jaws - they pierce chitin and inject poison into the victim’s body.
Muscular legs also help in the hunt. Thanks to them, the predator can make lightning races. They allow both to catch up with prey, and to escape in case of danger. In addition, during the observation, naturalists learned that a peacock spider can catch even a flying target if it accidentally appears in its field of vision.
