Abundant and rare spiders on tree trunks in German forests (Arachnida, Araneae)

Abstract

The spider fauna active on the bark of trees in forests on eight sites in different regions in Germany was investigated. Trunk eclectors at about 2-4 meters height on living trees were used in different regions of Germany (SW Bavaria, Hesse, Brandenburg) between 1990 and 2003. In Hesse eclectors were also used on dead beech trees (standing and lying). In this study data, mainly from beech (<i>Fagus sylvatica</i>) and spruce (<i>Picea abies</i>), from May to October are compared – whole year samples (including winter) are only available from Hesse. A total of 334 spider species were recorded with these bark traps, i.e. about one third of the spider species known from Germany. On average, each of the eight regions yielded 140.5 (± 26.2) species, each single tree 40.5 (± 12.2) species and 502 (± 452) adult spiders per season (i.e. May to Oct.). The 20 most abundant species are listed and characterised in detail. Six of the 20 species were not known to be abundant on bark, three prefer conifers and three beech/broadleaf. Even in winter (December-March) there was a remarkably high activity on the trunks. However, only a few species occur exclusively or mainly in winter. Finally, the rarity of some bark spider species is discussed and details (all known records in Germany, phenology) of four of them are presented (<i>Clubiona leucaspis, Gongylidiellum edentatum, Kratochviliella bicapitata, Oreonetides quadridentatus</i>). The diversity and importance of the spider fauna on bark in Central Europe is still underestimated

New faunistic and taxonomic data on the spider fauna of Albania (Arachnida: Araneae)

“…However, its occurrence is not unexpected given its presence in Austria (Milaszowsky et al 2015), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Kubcová 2004), France (Lecigne 2018), Hungary (Mezőfi & Markó 2019), Spain (Crespo et al 2018), Belgium, Danmark, Netherlands, United Kingdom (Nentwig et al 2019), Germany and Turkey (Muster & Thaler 2004). Records in Central Europe assigned to P. longipalpis belong to P. buchari (Blick 2011). The pre sented photos of the male correspond well with illustrations of Central European specimens in the taxonomic literature (Kubcová 2004, Mezőfi & Markó 2019) and will con tribute to better knowledge of the species (Fig.…”

Diversity and assemblage structure of bark‐dwelling spiders in tropical rainforest and plantations under different management intensities in Xishuangbanna, China

“…Erwin, 1982;Mason, 1992;Kitching et al, 1993Kitching et al, , 1997Kitching et al, , 2001Russel-Smith & Stork, 1994;Stork et al, 1997;Halaj et al, 2000;Sørensen, 2004;Zheng et al, 2015). Only limited information is available for spiders on tree trunks, although high species numbers have been collected from bark habitat Larriv ee & Buddle, 2010;Blick, 2011). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in China to address the diversity and assemblage structure of bark-dwelling spiders.…”

Underestimated spider diversity in a temperate beech forest

“…Among these, eight species (10%) were newly recorded arboreal spiders in beeches in Europe (cf. Toft 1976Toft , 1978Szinetár and Horvtáh 2005;Blick 2008Blick , 2011, and Xysticus VS45 is probably a new species. Two species are on the Bavarian red list (Blick and Scheidler 2003) of endangered spiders: Araneus triguttatus and Gibbaranea bituberculata.…”

“…This group is both ubiquitous and sensitive to habitat changes, and can be rather easily sampled; in this way spider communities represent a potentially useful indicator for comparing biodiversity patterns across environments (Uetz 1991;Raizer and Amaral 2001;Hsieh et al 2003;Buchholz 2010). Although a few field studies have started to investigate the arboreal spider fauna of tree crowns in the temperate zones (Barbaro et al 2005;Gossner and Ammer 2006;Blick 2008;Floren et al 2008;Larrivee and Buddle 2009;Blick 2011), no study has yet attempted to investigate pure old-growth forest in Central Europe-perhaps because these forests were rarely preserved after the industrial revolution. Exploring the spider fauna in the canopy strata of old-growth trees offers an exciting and novel research exercise.…”