Biodiversity of orb-web spiders (family: araneidae) of buner valley, Pakistan

Abstract

The present research was carried out to explore the spider fauna of Buner valley with taxonomic study from February 2018 to January 2019. For this purpose samples were collected, four times at each month from 4 tehsils: Daggar, Gagra, Mandan and Totalai. Two methods were used, hand picking and sweep net for collection of samples. During day and night, three habitats, arid area, agriculture land and building area were search for collection. A total of 534 samples of spider were collected from four sampling sites, in which 379 were belonging to family Araniedae. After confirmation, the identified species were belonging to 8 genera (Neoscona, Argiope, Cyclosa, Araneus, Cyrtophora, Larinia, Erivoxia and Poltys) and 19 species. 18 of them were identified to specie level while a single specie to its generic level. The genus Neoscona was the dominant genus 26.31% having 5 species while the genus Argiope 21.05% is the second dominant having 4 species followed by Cyclosa 15.78% having 3 species followed by Cyrtophora and Araneus 10.52% having two species both. The Poltys and Larinia 5.26% are the rarest genera represent single-single specie both. Statistical analysis show that specie richness (D) = 5.77, Simpson index (1-D) = 0.87, Shannon index (H) = 2.33. Diversity of spiders was evenly distributed and calculated Evenness value was H/InS = 0.5408. There is also few atypical species and Fisher alpha estimate high value (Fisher α) = 4.42. Chao-1 estimated we have reported 22 species.

Diversity and ecological dynamics of ground and understory arachnid spiders from a lowland tropical forest in Sumber Pawon, Kediri, East Java

“…The Araneidae family is the most cosmopolitan spider, which indicates that the Araneidae family has an extensive geographical distribution [33]. In addition, the abundance of the Araneidae family is also supported by its nature as a polyphagous carnivore, where the spider can consume various types of prey and is not limited to the prey's life cycle [33].…”

“…The Araneidae family is the most cosmopolitan spider, which indicates that the Araneidae family has an extensive geographical distribution [33]. In addition, the abundance of the Araneidae family is also supported by its nature as a polyphagous carnivore, where the spider can consume various types of prey and is not limited to the prey's life cycle [33]. Similar research was also conducted by Sibarani et al [34], where the Araneidae family is the most common spider family, with an abundance of species of 262 individuals from 379 samples.…”