![]() Joseph is a taxonomist-a scientist who describes new species of animals. Joseph Schubert catching a jumping spider in the Little Desert National Park, in 2019. Joseph even has a peacock spider tattoo on his arm. Seven of those new peacock spiders came in 2020 alone. ‘I've described 13 species of peacock spiders and five species of their cousins Jotus, which is another genus of jumping spider,’ he says. He found his first peacock spider in 2016 and hasn’t slowed down since. Joseph may be just 23 years old, but he’s already made a big name for himself in the micro world of jumping spiders. To date there are now 92 species of peacock spider-up from just 15 in 2011. ‘Generally the behaviour will be different between each species although we use other characteristics like the patterns of the male to determine different species from each other.’ ![]() ‘I preserved them in ethanol and brought them back to the lab and I studied the features which made them different from other spiders. ‘I got the specimens in the post actually and then I took a whole bunch of photos of them while they were alive and documented the courtship display of the male,’ says Joseph. Peacock spiders belong to the genus Maratus, which has come to prominence in the last decade due to the male’s vibrant colours and ‘dancing’ displays-and Nemo is no different. ‘I’ve only ever seen them on a plant above the water,’ she says. ‘Especially the fact that I was doing some fish sampling out at Mount Burr Swamp where I found them, it just fits. Sheryl originally suggested a different name for the new species, but says Nemo is perfect. ‘He had a plain back but his orangey-red face is what stood out and I hadn’t seen anything like it before, so I knew it had to be a new one,’ she says. Sheryl says she knew the spider was something different from the moment she found it. ‘Sheryl Holliday, who's an ecological field officer for Nature Glenelg Trust, posted a couple of photos of some spiders to identify and I came across them and I thought, “Oh, wow that looks like it might be a new species” so I got in contact with her and she ended up sending me some specimens,’ says Joseph. The common clown fish ( Amphiprion ocellaris), which served as the inspiration for Nemo.ĭiscovered by a citizen scientist in Mount Gambier, Nemo first caught Joseph’s eye on a peacock spider appreciation page on Facebook.
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