South Australia, 25 Mar: A new type of peacock spider has been discovered on Mount McIntyre and Nangwarry, in South Australia by a citizen scientist Sheryl Holliday. Peacock spiders are tiny spiders with extremely colourful backs and belong to the genus Maratus.
It has been scientifically named as Maratus nemo, because of a bright orange face with white stripes that resemble the clownfish Nemo from the famous animated movie, Finding Nemo.
It is the size of a grain of rice, has a beautiful bright blue back with red and black stripes, and green eyes. Unlike other peacock spiders, which prefer a dry habitat, M.nemo inhabits marshy vegetation in wetlands.
Arachnologist (a person who studies spiders) Joseph Schubert of Museums Victoria, who had earlier identified seven new species of the peacock spider, has done a detailed description of M.nemo and his findings are published in the journal Evolutionary Systematic.