Maratus volans (Otto & Hill, 2014)

Otto, Jürgen C. & Hill, David E., 2015, Maratus elephans, a new member of the volans group from New South Wales (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryinae), Peckhamia 123 (1), pp. 1-19 : 16-17

The volans group within the genus Maratus

The three members of the volans group share a number of characteristics that, collectively, separate them from the other known Maratus ( Table 1). M. elephans , M. pardus , and M. volans are readily identified by the unique appearance of males ( Figure 15 ).

Unlike the well-known Maratus volans , M. elephans and M. pardus are presently known from only a few localities ( Figure 16 ). In part this difference may be due to the presence of M. volans in park lands near major coastal metropolitan areas (Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne) where they are more often encountered, photographed and collected.

Figures

Figure 15. Displaying males of the three species associated with the volans group of the genus Maratus. 1-3, M. elephans from Andersons Flat near Chaffey Dam, NSW. 4-6, Three different M. pardus from Cape Le Grand National Park, WA. 7-9, Three different M. volans from Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, NSW. The position of legs III relative to the fan varies in the three species from (2) one leg in front and one behind in M. elephans, to (5) both legs in front in M. pardus, to (8) both legs behind in M. volans. All three species are vividly and distinctly coloured.

Figure 16. Known localities for the three members of the volans group (M. elephans, M. pardus and M. volans). Numbered localities are associated with records that have been verified from photographs (many posted on FLICKRTM), by the examination of specimens, or listed in previous publications. For each listed locality, the respective collector and/or photographer and/or examiner is given. Unverified records of M. volans from the Atlas of Living Australia (http://bie.ala. org.au/species/Maratus volans) are not numbered, and some of these posted records (e.g., west of Melbourne, or Tasmania) are not shown here as they are now known to represent other species.