Maratus pavonis (Dunn, 1947)

The pavonis View in CoL View at ENA group

Dunn first used the Latin word for "peacock" ( pavo) when he described M. pavonis in 1947. He later wrote an account of the display of this spider in a now-defunct Australian magazine, Walkabout ( Dunn 1957). At the time, only two species in this group were known, M. pavonis and M. splendens . Males within this group can often be identified by the presence of a large red circle or "target" on the fan, but this is often obscured or replaced by a covering of light brown scales. Some males do not even raise their fan as they display. Spiders of Western Australia presently identified as either M. pavonis , M. pavonis var. brunneis , or M. pavonis var. nornalup ( Otto & Hill 2012 c, 2012e; Baehr & Whyte 2016) are included here with M. pavonis but need further study. Unlike the eastern M. pavonis , the fan of these western spiders may have large lateral flaps or more light-brown scale cover, and the legs may have fewer markings.