Remarkable critters I just learned about.

[HenrikOlsen]

I'll start with Maratus Volans, the Peacock Spider.
Here's a 6 minute YouTube clip of its mating ritual, at 3 minutes it gets really clear where the name comes from.

[starcanuck64]

Thanks for the description, as a confirmed arachniphobe I won't be getting the bejesus scared out of me.<smile>

[LookingSkyward]

Ditto starcanuck64

[Tog]

That's cool, and far less terrifying than the bugs I learned existed last week.

It's a variation of jumping spider, and jumping spiders are the puppies/kittens of the spider world. I've had several drink water out of my hand and we got one to chase a dot from a laser pointer the other day. They are the only spiders we allow to stay in the house. We've even brought them in from other places just to turn them loose.

[Noclevername]

When it first started waving those hind legs prior to display, I thought "GOOOOOOOAL!"

[Swift]

When it first started waving those hind legs prior to display, I thought "GOOOOOOOAL!"

LoL
Very cool and very pretty

[starcanuck64]

That's cool, and far less terrifying than the bugs I learned existed last week.

It's a variation of jumping spider, and jumping spiders are the puppies/kittens of the spider world. I've had several drink water out of my hand and we got one to chase a dot from a laser pointer the other day. They are the only spiders we allow to stay in the house. We've even brought them in from other places just to turn them loose.

I find them almost tolerable.

There was a Nat-Geo article on them years ago, mostly about their amazing anterior eyes which allow them to do a lot of their behaviour including jumping. In the letters section the next month, a reader talked about how he and his brother would communicate with jumping spiders by waving their arms in certain ways that would bring the spiders in or scare then off. I thought it was pretty far fetched so I tried it out a resident jumping spider of my apartment I noticed on the wall. I began waving my arms in the way the letter described how to attract the spiders and soon had it sitting next to the keyboard of my desktop looking up at me. They have iridescent eyes and it was almost beautiful...until I got freaked out having a spider staring at me.

The "go away" gesture also worked.

edit- I was looking for a link on this topic but I couldn't get up the nerve to hit one of the results. They say some people are hard-wired to be afraid of certain things like spiders and snakes and I'm definitely one of the former. Things with no legs I'm fine things with more than six not so much.

[Trebuchet]

The legs don't bother me. Those eyes on the other hand...

[starcanuck64]

The legs don't bother me. Those eyes on the other hand...

Yup, the close-ups with the eight beady eyes and fangs does it to me every time...

[DoggerDan]

I think I'll refrain from sending the close-up pics to my son. He HATES spiders!