Description
Jotus remus, and Australian species of spider I discovered on 30 December 2014 when I came home from a camping trip and found it sitting on my luggage when unloading the car. Perhaps interesting to note that I had intentionally left my camera gear at home so I would not be tempted to look for spiders.
This spider was named and described in a paper that David Hill and myself published in the journal Peckhamia. The courtship behaviour of this spider is extraordinary. Both play a kind of cat and mouse game and when I published this video I still did not know why they behaved in that way. A took almost a year to solve the puzzle and it happened when bringing together virgin females and males, you can see what happens then in the sequel to this video, Spid-a-boo2.
I watched female and males engaging in this way for many hours and regardless of how long the male tried a female that attacked him would not mate. This behaviour is NOT to tire out the female, tiredness plays no role here. The aim is to find a female that is receptive, one that has not yet mated. Instead of chasing the male with his paddle receptive females become calm and placid almost immediately when seeing the male's paddle appearing over the edge of a leaf and it only takes a couple of minutes for them to decide to mate.
The clips I used in this video are only a fraction of what I originally shot. You can find many more scenes in my album on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/showcase/6087737
The music for this clip was composed, played and recorded by cellist Kristin Rule. http://www.kristinrule.com/about/
I love her work and I am glad she agreed to help me with this little clip.
Research, camera, editing: Jurgen Otto
Camera gear used: Canon C100 and 100mm macro lens
For more on my work visit me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PeacockSpider/
For licensing inquiries please contact jurgenotto8@gmail.com