The ultimate lovely legs competition: the world's nine most beautiful spiders

This burrow-dwelling, blue-legged tarantula is turning heads - and there are plenty of other charismatic eight-legged friends out thereIn case you missed the news in the latest journal of the British Tarantula Society, a rather lovely new spider with iridescent, electric-blue legs has been discovered. The burrow-dwelling spider [Birupes simoroxigorum] has reportedly been "feted by experts as one of the most beautiful spiders ever documented", prompting the question: what are the other most beautiful spiders ever documented?We asked Matthew Robertson, senior keeper of invertebrates at ZSL London Zoo, who gave the caveat: "The beauty isn't the side that we tend to come at it from here, although it's always an advantage if an animal is highly charismatic." Continue reading...