When you imagine Australian insects you tend to think big. However, this new species of jumping spider is the size of a pea. These spiders measure about 4 millimeters on average.
The tiny arachnid was discovered by Amanda De George, director of the Backyard Zoology, in her backyard in New South Wales, with the luck that this little blue-faced wonder has been declared a new species of Jotus, a genus of the Salticidae family. (jumping spiders) native to Australia.
Joseph Schubert, a resident of the Victoria Museum, saw Amanda De George's photos of the little spider and recognized instantly that it was a still undocumented species.
After three months looking for it, he found one again sunbathing on his terrace, and managed to collect a specimen and send it to Schubert for formal identification. The expert confirmed that it was a new species of Jotus, the same species in which he is specialized.
Citizen science is more important now than ever. There are many citizen science websites for uploading photos, such as iNaturalist , in case you find something curious in your garden and can contribute to science.
