📸 PhotoPhoto: Jürgen Otto · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Flying peacock spider
Maratus volans (Flying peacock spider · Flying peacock spider)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Jumping spiders are usually seen on grass or trees on sunny days and have keen eyesight to stalk and pounce on prey (Australian Museum).
- 💡 The Australian Museum explains that because of the male's vivid colors and courtship display, it is fittingly called the peacock spider (Australian Museum).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The flying peacock spider (Maratus volans) is a small Australian jumping spider whose male unfolds a brightly colored abdomen in courtship.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
The male's abdomen has foldable flap-like projections on both sides bordered with white hairs. Males are red, blue, and black, whereas females are plain.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
During courtship, the male unfolds and raises his side flaps, tilting a round, colorful patterned fan fringed with white hairs toward the female. Rising above the bright cephalothorax, this display creates a striking spectacle.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • catalogueoflife.org — 6R68M
- • wikidata.org — Q312182
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:MalePeacockSpider.jpg
- • australian.museum — jumping-spiders
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Maratus speciosus)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.