Like most Peacock spiders, Maratus jactatus does an elaborate courtship dance punctuated by leg kicks. Imagine a Rockette who’s forgotten to shave their legs.
Epicadus heterogaster is a member of the crab spider family, so-called because their front legs are longer and arch forward instead of downward, giving them a crab appearance.
First classified in 1899 as Poecilotheria metallica after it was discovered in the Gooty train yard in south central India, this tarantula virtually disappeared for 102 years.
Another Australian native, Thwaitesia nigronodosa resides in Queensland’s rainforests. Like most of the various members of the genus Thwaitesia, it has been given the monikers Sequined Spider or Mirror Spider.
We’ve known about the beautiful chrysilla lauta for more than 130 years, but it is so rare, and so tiny – a mere few millimeters in size – little is known about it.
Among the largest crab spiders in the world, Platythomisus octomaculatus can be 7.6 cm ( 3 in) in size. Despite this, they are relatively elusive in the wilds of Southeast Asia stretching from India to Burma to Singapore.
We’ve long been aware for a long time that horseshoe crabs were not crabs at all, but it wasn’t until 2019 that scientists parsed it’s DNA to discover it actually was a distant cousin to spiders and scorpions.
Of the 35,000 species of spiders, half of them form webs to catch prey. Perhaps the most recognizable webs are the radial grid ones, made up of concentric circles and held together by spokes.
Another orb weaver, Araneus gemmoides has been dubbed the Cat-faced spider because of the pair of horns on its abdomen that look like a kitty’s ears.
Maratus Madelineae was not given a flashy name like our earlier entry and fellow peacock spider Sparklemuffin.