Peacock Spiders

These tiny and startlingly colourful Australian jumping spiders are nothing short of spectacular. They dance and now science has discovered that they also make music - of a sort. Have a listen here. There are even more of them than suspected with up to 20 new species discovered in the past four years. The two newest have been given wonderful common names. Meet Sparklemuffin (Maratus jactatus) and Skeletorus (Maratus sceletus).

I find these little creatures irresistible and I doubt if even a convinced arachnophobe would feel otherwise. What do you think?