A photographer has made an unexpected find on a sprawling outback property. Shane Graves had been invited to survey Dakalanta Sanctuary, west of Adelaide, when he spotted a glistening rainbow spider species that had never been seen in South Australia.
Until Grave’s discovery in August, the closest sighting of maratus australis had been 900km away in the eastern side of Western Australia.
Dr Alexandra Ross, an ecologist at Australian Wildlife Conservancy, the non-profit group that manages the property, described the discovery as “huge”.
“It raises a lot of questions around the distribution of this unique species and highlights just how much there still is to learn about its ecology and range,” she said.
The beautifully coloured maratus australis was glistening in the sun. Source: Shane Graves
Spider known for mesmerising dance
Maratus australis species is one of 6,000 species of jumping spider, and was first described in 2016. They are known for their beautiful colours and fascinating ability to interact with people, and as a result, there are dozens of TikTok and YouTube videos showing similar species of spider appearing to “dance”.
“They can be quite curious and entertaining if they’re in the mood,” Graves told Yahoo News Australia.
He suspects the spiders may see their reflection in the lens of the camera and mistake it for another male.
“When they get excited, they really put on a show,” he said.
The spider he spotted scuttled in front of his camera as he was photographing greenhood orchids.
Shane Graves was photographing a greenhood orchid (right) when he spotted Maratus australis (left). Source: Shane Graves
Incredible moment spider seen for first time in South Australia
Because it had been a good year for rain across the semi-arid Mallee range, there was an abundance of them, along with wispy spider orchids and sun orchids.
“Of course, when you get good rains, you also get lots of insects and spiders,” Graves told Yahoo News.
Growing to between 3 to 5mm in length, and having the ability to jump 40 to 50 times their height, capturing an image of maratus australis can be a challenge.
“They’re like a little grasshopper, hopping around. You’ve got to be really quick to follow them,” Graves said.
“This one was on the ground, amongst all the bark, leaf litter, and small twigs that had fallen off the Mallee bush. He was still enough that I could get a couple of quick photos of him. Then I went back to my job, and he went back to his.”
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