Maratus is a spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

 genus of the Salticidae family (jumping spiders). All described species are endemic

Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...

 to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Its best known member is the "peacock spider", M. volans, which is able to expand flaps on its abdomen, resulting in a colorful display used in courtship. The males of all known Maratus species use expanded flaps in courtship display.

Several species in this genus were earlier classified in genus Saitis

Saitis

Saitis is a spider genus of the Salticidae family . The 30 recognized species are spread worldwide.-Distribution:It is possible that the species from Australia belong to other genera, such as Lycidas.-Species:...

, containing the Mediterranean Saitis barbipes

Saitis barbipes

Saitis barbipes is a common jumping spider in the Mediterranean region, where it can be found on houses and rocks, as well as indoors.The Australian "peacock spider", Maratus volans, has a range of superficial similarities to the species, such as green eyes, and an enlarged third pair of legs used...

, which is superficially similar to M. volans (colorful males with enlarged third pair of legs). However, the two genera are in all likelihood not closely related.

Maratus live on or near the ground in low bushes (Hill 2009).

Species

There are at least twenty species of Maratus (Waldock 2007), however only seven are described so far.

• Maratus amabilis Karsch, 1878 — Australia
• Maratus linnaei Waldock, 2008 — Western Australia
• Maratus mungaich Waldock, 1995 — Western Australia
• Maratus pavonis (Dunn, 1947) — Victoria
• Maratus rainbowi (Roewer, 1951) — New South Wales
• Maratus vespertilio (Simon, 1901) — Australia
• Maratus volans
  Maratus volans
  The Peacock spider or Gliding spider is a species of jumping spider.-Description:Octavius Pickard-Cambridge noted in his original description that "it is difficult to describe adequately the great beauty of the colouring of this spider".The red, blue and black colored males have flap-like...
  
  (O. P.-Cambridge, 1874) — Queensland, New South Wales

External links

• Diagnostic drawings of two species (M. volans, M. mungaich)
• Pictures and behavioral description of M. pavonis