Two new peacock spiders identified in Western Australia

Biologist Ji1/4rgen Otto and colleagues have named two species of the extraordinarily colourful dancing spiders

It is only a few millimetres in size, performs a dance as part of a courtship ritual and has striking coloured markings on its back that "look like a pharaoh's headdress".

But when biologist Ji1/4rgen Otto first spotted the peacock spider species he has named Maratus unicup, he didn't immediately recognise how special it was.