If you are as intrigued by Peacock jumping spiders as me then you should definitely check out Jurgon Otto’s photographs on his flickr. Jurgon is often uploading pictures of new species and they never fail to amaze me.

Also check out the video below. The males of each species have their own personalised mating dance and their performance determines whether or not they go home with a lady. The males also use vibrations to ‘drop sick beats’ while dancing. These spiders are a sensory ecologists wet dream; they are visually stunning and use the environment (e.g. dead leaves) to make noises. I’d love to see what they look like from the perspective of both female spiders and predators!

Guy Freeman, a close friend, recently painted the majority of known species and I couldn’t resist sharing them. This inspired me to make some cartoons of the peacock spiders…maybe someday I’ll get around to making cartoons for all known species!?!