This is such a beautiful tiny spider (that's a fingernail on the left). I can't see how even spider haters couldn't love the way this little guy looks.
Credit: Jurgen Ott
Octavious Pickard-Cambridge noted in his original description that "it is difficult to describe adequately the great beauty of the colouring of this 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 raises
his abdomen, then 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. The third pair of legs is also
raised for display, showing a brush of black hairs and white tips. While
approaching the female, the male will vibrate his abdomen while waving raised
legs and tail, and dance from side to side.
Both sexes reach about 5 mm in body length. Females and immatures of both sexes are brown but have colour patterns by which they can be distinguished from related species
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