cashwell_wikireader_edits

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Overview
Maratus is a spider genus of the family Salticidae
(jumping spiders). These spiders are commonly
referred to as peacock spiders due to the males’
colorful and usually iridescent patterns on the upper
surface of the abdomen often enhanced with lateral
flaps or bristles, which they display during courtship.
Females lack these bright colors, being cryptic in
appearance. In at least one species, Maratus vespertilio,
the expansion of the flaps also occurs during ritualised
contests between males. The male display and courtship
dance are complex, involving visual and vibratory signals.
Maratus species are small spiders, with a total body
length mostly around 4-5 mm (0.2 in), sometimes
smaller, with a high degree of sexual dimorphism.
Not all species have colors that appear bright to human
vision; Maratus vespertilio is relatively cryptically
colored, with most iridescence on the lateral flaps.
The abdominal display is used in courtship and, in at
least one species, also in aggressive interactions with
rival males.
Taxonomy
The genus Maratus was first described by
Ferdinand Karsch in 1878. Karsch was a curator at
the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, and named
spiders and other animals from preserved specimens
collected by others. He described the species Maratus
amabilis, the type of his new genus, on the basis
of a single male specimen, whose origin was only
recorded as "Australia". All species of Maratus are
found in Australia, with the exception of Maratus
furvus from China. M. furvus was first described in
1992 in the genus Lycidas, becoming part of Maratus
when Lycidas was synonymized in 2012. His short
description mentioned the abdomen being flattened
and quadrangular in shape, but otherwise did not refer
to the characteristic abdominal "flaps.” One molecular
phylogenetic study, by Junxia Zhang in 2012, concluded
that the seven Australian genera Hypoblemum,
Jotus, Lycidas, Maileus, Maratus, Saitis and Prostheclina
were so closely related that they could all be accommodated
in Saitis but this suggestion has not been
carried through to any taxonomic publication.
Crypsis
Peacock Spider
Overview
In ecology, crypsis is the ability of an animal to
avoid observation or detection by other animals.
It may be a predation strategy or an antipredator
adaptation. Methods include camouflage, nocturnality,
subterranean lifestyle and mimicry. Crypsis can
involve visual, olfactory (with pheromones), or
auditory concealment. When it is visual, the term
cryptic coloration, effectively a synonym for animal
camouflage, is sometimes used, but many different
methods of camouflage are employed by animals.
There is a strong evolutionary pressure for animals to
blend into their environment or conceal their shape,
for prey animals to avoid predators and for predators
to be able to avoid detection by prey. Cryptic animals
include the tawny frogmouth (feather patterning
resembles bark), the tuatara (hides in burrows all day;
nocturnal), some jellyfish (transparent), the leafy sea
dragon, and the flounder (covers itself in sediment).
Methods
This first method is visually, Many animals have
evolved so that they visually resemble their surroundings
by using any of the many methods of natural
camouflage that may match the color and texture of
the surroundings and/or break up the visual outline
of the animal itself. Such animals may resemble rocks,
sand, twigs, leaves, and even bird droppings. Other
methods including transparency and silvering are
widely used by marine animals. Next is olfactory.
Some animals, in both terrestrial and aquatic environments,
appear to camouflage their odor, which might
otherwise attract predators. Numerous arthropods,
both insects and spiders, mimic ants, whether to
avoid predation, to hunt ants, or to trick the ants
into feeding them. Lastly is auditory crypsis, some
insects were originally theorized to defend themselves
against predation by echolocating bats, both by
passively absorbing sound with soft, fur-like body
coverings and by actively creating sounds to mimic
echoes from other locations or objects.
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