Mandatory Credit: Photo by Jurgen Otto/Solent News/REX/Shutterstock (3661500b)nMaratus avibus spider displaying its colourful flaps during a courtship dancenPeacock spider displays colourful flaps to attract a female, Esperance, Australia - Mar 2014n*Full story: http://www.rexfeatures.com/nanolink/ooy4 nThis male spider tries to attract a female by showing off its vivid colours - just like a stunning peacock. The tiny 4.5mm Maratus, commonly known as the peacock spider, flaunts its spectacular blue, red and green flaps to catch the eye of a female. The spider, one of 43 species of Maratus, was found by biologist Dr Jurgen Otto and friend David Knowles near Esperance, Western Australia. Dr Otto, 48, said: "The reason they have such elaborate flaps or fans is simply to appear attractive to a female. "Only the male possess these flaps and he displays them to the female during a brief courtship dance. "It is similar to what happens with birds of paradise or peacocks".n
Seven new species of peacock spider have been found (Picture Jurgen Otto/Solent News/REX/Shutterstock)
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and no truer a word has been said about this particular eight-legged arachnid. 

To some people the peacock spider is the stuff of nightmares, while others think they are cute and ‘behave a bit like cats and dogs’.

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We’ll let you be the judge of that but even the most avid hater of all things spider would have to admit they are spectacular to look at.

Until relatively recently, only a small number of species had been discovered in its native homeland in southern Australia, but that number has risen to 48.

The recent burst in discoveries is largely down to the work of one enthusiast Jurgen Otto, a biologist in Sydney.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Jurgen Otto/Solent News/REX/Shutterstock (3661500e)nMaratus avibus spidernPeacock spider displays colourful flaps to attract a female, Esperance, Australia - Mar 2014n*Full story: http://www.rexfeatures.com/nanolink/ooy4 nThis male spider tries to attract a female by showing off its vivid colours - just like a stunning peacock. The tiny 4.5mm Maratus, commonly known as the peacock spider, flaunts its spectacular blue, red and green flaps to catch the eye of a female. The spider, one of 43 species of Maratus, was found by biologist Dr Jurgen Otto and friend David Knowles near Esperance, Western Australia. Dr Otto, 48, said: "The reason they have such elaborate flaps or fans is simply to appear attractive to a female. "Only the male possess these flaps and he displays them to the female during a brief courtship dance. "It is similar to what happens with birds of paradise or peacocks".n
The spider is a lot more colourful than other varieties (Picture: Jurgen Otto/Solent News/REX/Shutterstock)
He first came across one while walking in the Ku-ring-gai Chase national park, north of Sydney and has recently published a paper on six other new species.

He told the Guardian: ‘They’re fairly cute, which is why people are attracted to them.

‘They behave very differently to how people think a spider does … they behave more like cats and dogs, moving around, perceiving and reacting to their environment.’

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Jurgen Otto/Solent News/REX/Shutterstock (3661500d)nMaratus avibus spider displaying its colourful flaps during a courtship dancenPeacock spider displays colourful flaps to attract a female, Esperance, Australia - Mar 2014n*Full story: http://www.rexfeatures.com/nanolink/ooy4 nThis male spider tries to attract a female by showing off its vivid colours - just like a stunning peacock. The tiny 4.5mm Maratus, commonly known as the peacock spider, flaunts its spectacular blue, red and green flaps to catch the eye of a female. The spider, one of 43 species of Maratus, was found by biologist Dr Jurgen Otto and friend David Knowles near Esperance, Western Australia. Dr Otto, 48, said: "The reason they have such elaborate flaps or fans is simply to appear attractive to a female. "Only the male possess these flaps and he displays them to the female during a brief courtship dance. "It is similar to what happens with birds of paradise or peacocks".n
The spider is typically found in Australia (Picture: Jurgen Otto/Solent News/REX/Shutterstock
Jurgen has a huge following online and some 5.4million YouTube subscribers.

But studying spiders isn’t even his day job just a hobby to which he dedicates a spare bedroom.

Most of the time, he studies mites at the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources.

He added: ‘By comparison to mites, these spiders are actually quite large,’ he said. ‘It’s all relative.

‘If you know what you’re looking for, you can find them. But I have to be careful not to lose them – particularly the babies – and not to squash them.’

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