IN THE AUSTRALIAN spring of 2005, photographer Jiirgen Otto encountered his first peacock spider. "I almost stepped on it," he recalls. "It leapt off- but not before I snapped a photo." It was a male Maratus volans, then just one of seven named species of peacock spider. Endemic to Australia, peacock spiders are part of the largest spider family, Salticidae (jumping spiders). Anc they are active predators - meaning they hunt their prey, rather than ensnaring it in a web. Jumping spiders are instantly recognizable by their quartet of forward-facing eyes, and peacock spiders, specifically, by their dramatic abdomens and courtship displays.
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