Meet the peacock spider.

Peacock Spider ( Maratus volans ) - perhaps the only species of spiders that has outgrowths on the body, very similar to the wings of insects. And it was for them that he got his Latin name, translated as "flying". But, as it turned out, spiders do not need wings for flight at all ... You probably already guessed why and how he uses them? No? Then under cat..



Actually, as you can see, this spider is very, very small ..

As scientists from the Australian Arachnological Society (a society of spider lovers in a simple way) have shown, the presence of additional outgrowths in male peacock spiders is just an additional way to attract females of the same species.


In this case, these small - half-nail - spiders are no different from real peacocks, the males of which have special decorating feathers for the same purpose.

At the same time, the whole ritual of attraction and courtship turns into a real dance, beautiful and very bright.

Well, peacock :-)


It is a hunter with excellent eyesight, despite its small size, it can detect prey at a distance of 20 centimeters - quite a feat considering its size. And the shiny coloration is not just decorative - it helps the spider survive.

Such coloring is observed not only in spiders. In many species, the males are very bright, while the females are gray and unassuming. The peacock spider lives mainly in the Australian states of New Wales and Queensland. Males also have two rounded pleats on the sides of their abdomens, which they spread out during their dance. That is why they are called peacocks.



And here is the video:

The family of jumping spiders is simply replete with unusually colorful and prominent representatives. The peacock spider we are describing, or Maratus volans, is also no exception.

Despite the fact that spiders of this species do not differ large sizes, the brightness of the color of the male spider, which literally shimmers with bright red, yellow, blue and green flowers will not leave him unnoticed.

The legs of the spider and its cephalothorax are usually dark brown, in some cases even black, which is diluted with red stripes.

And on the belly of a greenish color there are stripes of blue and red. But female spiders, compared to males, have a rather faded appearance.

The peacock spider has excellent eyesight. Thanks to this, he can notice prey from a distance of about 20 cm. These are very small spiders, the size of adults is only 4-5 millimeters. They live mainly in New South Wales and Queensland. The males of this species have rounded, scutellum-shaped growths on their abdomens that lie close to the spider's body when it is at rest.


Such a bright and elegant coloring of the spider does not pursue aesthetic goals, its role is to attract females. The spider, in search of a mate, stands upright and opens the rounded flaps similar to a peacock's tail. Thus, the spider shows its superiority.


To impress the female even more, the spider raises the third pair of legs, which is decorated with black bristles, the ends of which are white, and begins a kind of dance, trying its best to please the female. Peacock spider does not differ in "strict morality" - immediately after mating with one female, he goes in search of another, in front of which he will also dance.


The mating dance of the Peacock Spider is reminiscent of the dance of the European spider Saitis barbipes. It is noteworthy that official name this species has changed several times. At first, the Peacock Spider was called Attus volans, then Saitis volans, and only then - Maratus volans.


The original name of this species of spiders, like many other representatives of the order of spiders who chose Australia to live in, was given by arachnologists from Europe more than a hundred years ago.

People are used to the fact that spiders are vile and disgusting creatures. They see them as monsters that kill everyone in their path. However, the truth is that not all members of this family have a terrifying appearance. Moreover, there are even those who can please others with their cute coloring and funny character. AND the best the proof is the peacock spider (photos of the arthropod are presented below).

General information about the species

This type of spider lives exclusively in Australia. It was first studied by the English scholar and preacher Octavius ​​Cambridge in 1874. Then the famous zoologist made a serious mistake by classifying the peacock spider as a flying insect-like. He even came up with loud name Salticus Volans, where the first word is an indication of the gender, and the second is a marching from the Latin word for "fly".

However, in 1991, the Polish zoologist Marek Zhabka thoroughly proved that the peacock spider cannot fly. Moreover, he does not even have wings, and he makes his “heavenly” journeys thanks to his muscular legs. Nevertheless, over the years, the volans prefix has taken root, and they did not want to change it. Only the word salticus was turned into maratus, thereby classifying the species as a special

Incredible beauty

The peacock spider has an unusual appearance. It cannot be confused with any other species. However, before proceeding to its description, it is necessary to mention one very important detail. Males of maratus volans look very different from females. Unlike the "gray" ladies, the gentlemen are painted in colorful iridescent tones.

The main advantage of males is the abdomen. It consists of hard plates on which it is engraved. Most often it consists of circles and stripes. blue color placed on a yellow or orange background. In addition, green, red and purple shades can be found in the peacock spider palette.

Otherwise, males and females are quite similar. So, these are small creatures, rarely growing more than 5 mm in length. The two rear pairs of legs are much larger than the front ones, since they are responsible for the high jumps of the insect. In addition, the peacock spider is covered from head to toe with light hair, which, like fluff, sticks out in different directions.

Diet and method of hunting

Maratus volans is a thoroughbred predator. Despite its tiny size, it rushes with the courage of a tiger at all insects that crawl near it. The main weapon of the spider is its jaws - they pierce chitin and inject poison into the body of the victim.

Muscular legs also help in hunting. Thanks to them, the predator can make lightning-fast jumps. They allow both to catch up with prey and to escape in case of danger. In addition, in the course of observations, naturalists learned that a peacock spider can even catch a flying target if it accidentally falls into its field of vision.

The purpose of the variegated color

The fact that only males have a bright color already suggests the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bits purpose. In fact, everything is simple - it is needed to attract the attention of females. This is a colorful outfit that should show the lady the superiority of her chosen one over others.

But bright color is not the only trump card that the peacock spider has. The mating dance is what distinguishes this handsome man from the rest of the representatives of this family. Being near the female, the gentleman lifts the plates up, like a peacock's tail, and begins to shake them in time with the steps. From the outside, it looks like a groovy Mexican dance that continues until the lady recognizes the boyfriend.

True, it also happens that instead of mating, the male can expect an inglorious end. After all, the peacock spider is prone to cannibalism and easily eats representatives of its own species. Therefore, for a bad dancer, even a simple flirtation can be a deadly adventure.


On the same street On the same street there are 4 houses in a row, in which 4 people live: Bogdanov, Donnikov, Alekseev and Kharitonov. It is known that each of them owns exactly one of the following professions: doctor, teacher, locksmith and hairdresser, but it is not known who lives in which house. However, there is reliable information that: 1) the doctor lives across the house from the locksmith; 2) the teacher lives to the left of the doctor; 3) the hairdresser lives to the right of the doctor; 4) the teacher does not live next to the locksmith; 5) Kharitonov is not a doctor; 6) Bogdanov lives next to the hairdresser; 7) Donnikov lives to the right of the doctor; 8) Alekseev lives next to the teacher. Find out who owns what profession and who lives where. Write your answer in the order of the houses from left to right.


Solution: From facts 2 and 3, we can write down the following relative location of houses according to the professions of their owners: teacher, doctor, hairdresser. Since the doctor lives across the house from the locksmith (see fact 1) and the teacher does not live next to the locksmith (fact 4), then the scheme of residence of all four people is as follows: teacher doctor hairdresser locksmith


Solution: Now we define the professions of each. Since Alekseev lives next to the teacher (fact 8), he is a doctor. Then Bogdanov, who, like the doctor Alekseev, also lives next to the hairdresser (fact 6) is a locksmith. Let's write this down in a table (it is convenient to arrange the professions of house owners in the found order): TeacherDoctorHairdresserLocksmith AlekseevBogdanov Since Donnikov lives to the right of the doctor (fact 7), his profession is a hairdresser. It remains that Kharitonov is a teacher. The whole desired scheme has the form: TeacherDoctorHairdresserLocksmith KharitonovAlekseevDonnikovBogdanov


Get from 5 49 It is required to write a program for obtaining from number 5 of number 49 for the Doubler executor, whose command system includes two commands: 1. Add Multiply by 2. By executing the first of them, the Doubler adds 1 to the number on the screen, and by executing the second it multiplies it by 2. Answer: The shortest solution (instruction numbers in the program):


Five friends Four friends were sitting on a bench near the house: Anton, Boris, Victor, Georgy and Dmitry. It is known that: 1) Victor sits to the right of Anton; 2) Dmitry is sitting to the left of Boris; 3) Boris is sitting next to Victor; 4) George is sitting next to Victor; 5) Anton and Boris are not sitting next to each other; 6) Dmitry is sitting on the edge of the bench. Find out in what order the guys sat.


Solution: From facts 2 and 5 it follows that Dmitry is on the far left. An analysis of facts 3 and 4 shows that there are two options for placing Victor, Boris and Georgy (from left to right): 1) Boris, Victor, Georgy; 2) George, Victor, Boris. At the same time, Anton sits to the left of the three listed guys (see fact 1). But since Anton and Boris are not sitting next to each other (fact 5), the first option is not suitable. The answer is the following placement of friends: Dmitry, Anton, George, Victor, Boris.


Three students Classroom teacher complained to the principal of the school that he had a company of three students in his class, one of whom always tells the truth, the second always lies, and the third speaks every now and then a lie, then the truth. The director knows that their names are Sergey, Maxim and Kirill, but he does not know which of them is true and which is not. One day, all three were late for class. The director called everyone into his office and talked to the boys. Cyril said: “Maxim never lies. But from Sergei, on the contrary, you will never hear the truth. Maxim said: "Kirill told the truth about me." The director understood who was who. Can you do it?


Solution: Investigate possible options in relation to Cyril. 1. Assume that Cyril's first statement is true and the second is false. But then, from the falsity of the second statement, it follows that Sergei is a truthful person, like Maxim (Kirill's first statement), which cannot be (there is only one among the guys). 2. Let Cyril's first statement be false and the second one be true. In this case, it turns out that both Sergey and Maxim are liars, which also cannot be. 3. Let's assume that Cyril always tells the truth. But at the same time, he cannot say the same about Maxim. Hence, this option is also impossible. 4. It remains that Cyril always lies, and both of his statements are false. Then it turns out that Maxim is a liar or he is “different”. But Maxim can no longer be a liar, so the second case is suitable. It remains that Sergei is "truthful", which corresponds to the second statement of Kirill. So this option is possible. So, the answer is: Cyril always lies, Sergei is “true”, and Maxim speaks every now and then a lie, then the truth.


Tasks Five questions 1. What spider gave the name to the dance? 2. Coco Chanel liked to repeat: "Fashion passes." And what remains? 3. Which tennis player won the Wimbledon tournament at the age of 17? 4. What kind of fry aquarium fish in case of danger, they hide in the mouth of the "dad"? 5. What was the contents of the most expensive bottle of wine sold at auction? 1. The name of the spider (tarantula) is associated with the Italian folk dance tarantella. 2. The famous French fashion designer Coco Chanel said "Fashion passes, but style remains." 3. Age 17 Wimbledon tennis tournament won by Boris Becker (Germany). 17-year-old Wimbledon Junior Winner Patrick Cash. Martina Hingis, at the age of less than 16, became the winner of the doubles tournament. 4. In case of danger, fry of the “American cichlid” aquarium fish rush to the female and hide in her mouth (there are other names for such fish). 5. The most expensive bottle of wine ever sold at auction is a bottle of Chateau Cheval-Blanc (see en.wikipedia.org).

). Local scientist Jurgen Otto (Jurgen Otto) and colleagues studied them for three years after the first meeting. Peacock spiders are largest family jumping horses (Salticidae), numbering more than 5000 species. Spiders from this family are usually small or even small, they lead a wandering lifestyle. They got their name for the ability to make very long (compared to body size) jumps. Males are usually slightly fewer females and more brightly colored. In addition, these spiders have eight eyes, the front pair of which is greatly enlarged, which creates a fairly recognizable "face". Their vision is excellent, one of the best among arthropods.

Peacock spiders are known for their mating dances. Like many other species of spiders, their females are larger than males and are not averse to having a snack with a gaping boyfriend. Therefore, the males have developed special dances that should show the female that this is not prey, but a mate, and also, apparently, kindle desire in her. The dances are very entertaining and consist of gestures with different pairs of paws (usually the third), shaking the abdomen and jerky movements from side to side. Nevertheless, the male is always on the alert, because a particularly hungry female may not wait for the end of the dance and, instead of amorous adventures, she will prefer to satisfy her hunger.

Peacock spiders, found only in the southern part of Australia, justify their name with the luxurious color of the abdomen, which they lift up and open like a peacock spreads its tail. They were first found and described in 1874 ( Maratus volans), and since then about 50 species have been discovered, seven of which have recently joined these ranks. There are a dozen more new species in the process of being described. According to Jurgen Otto, it was impossible to find money for research, so everyone who participated in the search and study of these spiders did so voluntarily and at their own expense. “There are always problems with funding when you deal with organisms that are not known or interesting to anyone,” the scientist complained. - There is a great temptation to name them after some famous person to draw attention to them. For example, recently one fly was named after Beyoncé. But I am always against such things. Let these animals become known for their own beauty, rather than for joining someone else's glory.

Jürgen Otto also took wonderful photographs of these spiders and wedding dance video. Definitely worth a visit to his Flickr photo hosting page, where you can marvel at the variety of these beautiful spiders and appreciate the elegance of their courtship. All photos in this post are taken from there.

In the photo - a male peacock spider Maratus caeruleus. Photo © Jurgen Otto.

Tigran Oganesov