IT'S THE public relations stunt the spider-world has been waiting for.
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Native to Australia, six species of the elusive peacock spider have been found near Tamworth.
At just 4mm in size, the cute critters are being found with a lot of hard work from a not-for-profit group of volunteers called Project Maratus.
Citizen scientist and photographer Michael Doe started out with nature and landscapes, it was only when he stumbled across the Maritus Elephans caught in a BioBlitz that his obsession with the peacock spider began.
"Nobody had ever really seen it, or knew much about the numbers," he said.
"We went out to two locations and couldn't find them, in the end we were near Nundle tip and we found them in huge numbers."
The peacock spider is incredibly picky, it can take Mr Doe hours of crawling around in the leaf litter to find one.
The females have to be interested, because if not they can get aggressive and see the male as dinner, Mr Doe said.
"If the female gives off movements that she's interested, they can see it and will start to display but they can be very timid," he said.
"One quick move and he will hightail is straight out of there, so it can take hours to get one photo."
The group travels as far as Western Australia to help researchers study different species of the spider.
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An American scientist is doing DNA work to see where the spider fits into nature's timeline.
It's estimated there are now more than 60 species in Australia. The spiders can kill a small invertebrate but are harmless to humans.
"I don't drink, but I'll have one if we find a new one," Mr Doe said.