Happy new year everyone ! I went for a bit of a camping trip, not thinking much about spiders and wanting to read a book instead. I chose something about the antarctic explorers (Mawson, Scott, Amundsen etc.), as I find ice very appealing during the Australian summer. Intentionally I even left my camera behind, something I have never done before. However, despite these efforts, I couldnt help discovering another new species of spider. How ? It literally jumped into my car and was sitting on my luggage after unloading at home. Not a peacock spider as such, but a reasonably close relative I would say. It has similar modifications on legs III, in this case though they are paddle-shaped. They are also used for courtship display, and that goes like this. After greeting the female initially with open arms (front legs) he hides from her and then keeps teasing her by stretching out his legs III from underneath. The female cant see him in that position, only the legs III paddles poke out and mysteriously they move from side to side. She keeps jumping at this target, but he simply and easily evades her attacks and moves to the other side, repeating the procedure from there while twitching his body and transmitting vibratory signals to her. All of this must make the female mad and I am not sure yet what the purpose of all this is. I watched it for a long time now and still do not how whether these two will proceed to mating. However, so far it is a great show to watch, much like catch me if you can, and I thought it is worth sharing with you. No doubt I will make this into another movie. As far as I can tell, such paddle-shaped extensions and this kind of display are not known for any other spider, correct me if you know otherwise. So not only a new species, but also a new behaviour, good start to the new year if you ask me. I hope yours was equally exciting.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 08:27:26 +0000
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