Lycidas chrysomelas, : Zabka, 1987

Otto, Jürgen C. & Hill, David E., 2021, Catalogue of the Australian peacock spiders, Peckhamia 148 (4), pp. 1-35 : 7

The chrysomelas group

This group includes the widely-distributed M. chrysomelas and the closely related M. nigromaculatus that is known only from the southern coast of Queensland. Unlike most other Maratus , M. chrysomelas can be found in the arid interior and the tropical north. In some parts of eastern Queensland M. nigromaculatus genes associated with the series of paired black spots of the fan may appear in some Queensland populations of the closely related M. chrysomelas as a result of introgression, or the two might represent a single biological species. Based on the recent DNA study by Girard et al. (2021), we now place four smaller species (2.5-4 mm in body length), previously comprising the spicatus group, here. Three of these smaller species ( M. purcellae , M. robinsoni , M. spicatus ) do not extend legs III during their courtship display.