December 2013
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The Victorian naturalist
Jumping spiders belonging to the endemic Australian genus Maratus are popularly referred to as peacock spiders, so called for the remarkable courtship displays of the often brightly coloured males. Several Maratus splendens were found in Buldah State Forest, East Gippsland in 2011 and 2013, representing the first records of this species from Victoria. Until recently, this species was known only from around Sydney. While a degree of caution should be exercised whenever implying possible new distributional records based on single localities, it is considered most likely that this discovery represents a genuine expansion in the known range of Maratus splendens. Details are also provided for a previously unpublished record from the central coast of New South Wales.