Scientists have found that males of a newly discovered jumping spider species, Jotus remus, play an unusual game of "peekaboo" in order to attract members of the opposite sex, according to National Geographic. During the unique ritual, the male hides underneath a leaf and then thrusts his heart-shaped paddle structure, located on each of his third legs, to a high enough degree that the female on the other side sees it. Currently, scientists do not know of any other spider species that plays such as game, nor do they know of any spider species with built-in paddles on its legs.
Jürgen Otto, a mite expert with the Australian government and spider enthusiast in his spare time, who went camping at a national park near Sydney, Australia, discovered the spider back in late 2014 between Christmas and New Year's Eve. After finding the spider (seen below), Otto was initially unsure if it came from his garden or camping gear, so he went back to the camping site and gathered some additional specimens, according to New Scientist. Whether the species is widespread or not is still currently unknown.
"It might be that it's unique to the mountaintop area where I found it, but who knows?" Otto said.
Females who observe this peekaboo behavior will typically chase the male - previous reports point to this behavior as a means of tiring the female out so that she will succumb to mating with the him, according to the Daily Mail, although Otto doesn't believe that this is true.
"This is not the case. 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. So it seems tiredness plays no role," he said. "What mattered was whether or not a female was virgin and therefore receptive."
The findings were published in the Jan. 7 issue of Peckhamia.
