91Èȱ¬

Spiders are scary, right? Well, wait a minute, what about this colourful arachnid... is this the world's cutest spider?

Say hello to 'Maratus nemo', a new species of peacock spider named for its resemblance to the star of the animated film Finding Nemo.

Australian spider expert, Joseph Schubert, named the adorable spider for the male's dazzling orange and white pattern on it's head, which recalls the young clownfish in the Oscar-winning film.

Maratus nemo, which is only about the size of a grain of rice at just over 4mm in length, was first discovered by an amateur scientist in South Australia.

Sheryl Holliday, an ecological field officer for Nature Glenelg Trust, first found Nemo the spider in Nangwarry, a town in Australia's south.

She then posted photos to a Facebook group for Australian jumping spiders.

Schubert, an arachnologist at the Melbourne Museum, saw the images, contacted Holliday and went to work studying the creature in depth.

Peacock spiders are a type of jumping spider native to Australia. They are named for the vibrant, bright colours found on the males. To date there are now 92 species of peacock spider - up from just 15 in 2011.

They are teeny-tiny, measuring anywhere from 1.5mm to 8mm. To anyone without superhero vision, they look like an ordinary brown spider at first glance. But under a microscope, their brilliant colours and patterns appear.

Scientists say the spider's bold patterns are used to attract a mate. The tiny spiders have become internet sensations for their elaborate courtship dances, where the male bobs up and down while waving it's legs at a female.

"I think peacock spiders have captured the public's attention just because they're really, really cute for spiders - they've got these massive forward-facing eyes and you can relate to them a lot more than you can to a huntsman for example," said Schubert, who found his first peacock spider in 2016.

What do you think of Nemo, cute or no? Let us know in the comments!