A male Maratus personatus lifts a leg as part of his impressive mating dance. (Jürgen Otto) If you don't think spiders are super-cute, then you've probably never seen Maratus personatus perform its ...

The animal dances and lifts up its tail-flap, which, once unfurled, resembles an abstract Indian blanket of intense color. The tiny creature hops about, lifts up its legs alternately like an air ...

At the end of a year, a lot of "Best of 2013" retrospectives are trotted out, filled with lists of new species that were described. Sadly, most of those lists are dominated by things with backbones.

It's not just the dazzling colours and slick moves of Australia's dancing spiders that make them special. There are more than 100 different species of the peacock spider, whereas most animals have ...

If you don't think spiders are super-cute, then you've probably never seen Maratus personatus perform its very elaborate, oh-so-adorable mating dance. The males of this newly described species of ...

It's kind of a like a sexy arachnid Hokey Pokey. The peacock spider puts his left leg up and he shakes it all about. He also seems to clap, wiggle and shimmy. Even arachnaphobes can appreciate these ...

Joseph Schubert spends hours at a time lying in the dirt of the Australian outback watching for tiny flickers in the sparse, ground-hugging foliage. The 22-year-old arachnologist is searching for flea ...

If you don't think spiders are super-cute, then you've probably never seen Maratus personatus perform its very elaborate, oh-so-adorable mating dance. The males of this newly described species of ...

The animal dances and lifts up its tail-flap, which, once unfurled, resembles an abstract Indian blanket of intense color. The tiny creature hops about, lifts up its legs alternately like an air ...