Refine
Document Type
- Article (4)
Language
- English (4)
Has Fulltext
- yes (4)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (4)
Keywords
- Anapidae (1)
- Bulgaria (1)
- Turkey (1)
- Zangherella relicta (1)
- cave-spiders fauna (1)
- endemics (1)
- first description of male (1)
- new records (1)
- subterranean environments (1)
- taxonomy (1)
The taxonomic status and distribution of the poorly known gnaphosid species Zelotes strandi (Nosek, 1905) is clarified, discussed and mapped on the basis of both the holotype (a single female from Turkey) and newly collected material (males and females from Bulgaria). This species was originally described from the island of Prinkipo (= Büyükada, District of Istanbul, Turkey) and the holotype is currently housed in the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna. Both sexes are here diagnosed and illustrated, whereby the male is described for the first time.
A faunistic study was carried out for three years in Zemen gorge (1984-1986). With the help of Barber-traps 675 gnaphosid spiders were caught in 4 localities, each with 2 habitats, meadow and forest. 23 species were found in total and their biotopical distribution was recorded. The investigated habitats are faunistically similar, mainly in qualitative respect. In addition data about the phenology of the most frequent species are presented. The males are most abundant in spring and summer and disappear in VIII, the females are most numerous after VII and can be found till the end of IX, whereas the juveniles can be found till the end of X. The species abundance reaches its peak in V-VI.
In 2005 a team of Bulgarian zoologists started a project aiming to study the invertebrates inhabiting the deeper soil stratum (euedaphon) and the Superficial Underground Compartment (SUC) in Bulgaria. In the course of a four-year sampling, a total of 52 species of spiders were caught from 19 collecting sites and 9 geographical regions. They belong to the following families: Scytodidae (1), Segestriidae (1), Dysderidae (8), Nesticidae (1), Anapidae (1), Theridiidae (1), Linyphiidae (20), Agelenidae (3), Cybaeidae (1), Dictynidae (2), Amaurobiidae (2), Liocranidae (3), Corinnidae (1), Zodariidae (1), Gnaphosidae (5), and Salticidae (1). The family Anapidae, with the species Zangherella relicta (Kratochvíl, 1935) is recorded from three sites in the Pirin and Slavyanka mountains, and this represents the first record of the family, genus and species in Bulgaria. In spite of the active investigations of the epigean and cave spiders in these regions over the years Z. relicta was not found and it seems it occurs only in deeper subterranean habitats and nowhere else. Comparative study of almost topotypic specimens of Z. relicta from Montenegro with those collected from Bulgaria showed no variation in the shape of palp and female vulvae. Until the true identity of Z. apuliae (Caporiacco, 1949) from Italy is revealed, it remains unclear whether Z. relicta and Z. apuliae are conspecific, as it remains unclear whether the older records of Z. apuliae from the Balkan Peninsula refer to this species or to Z. relicta. Pelecopsis mengei (Simon, 1884) (Linyphiidae) and Scotolathys simplex Simon, 1884 (Dictynidae) are also reported from Bulgaria for the first time, the latter being also new to FYR of Macedonia. A faunistic overview of the spiders found in these underground environments is made, along with remarks on the distribution and ecology of some rare and interesting species. The presence of cave-dwelling and superficial spiders in the sampled sites indicates that SUC and euedaphon are inhabited by different ecotypes, e.g. litter-(tanathostromic), soil-(edaphic) and cave-(troglobitic) which at some places co-occur.
Until today, from Greek caves a total of 109 species of spiders belonging to 25 families are known. One species, the linyphiid Porrhomma convexum (Westring, 1861) was recorded here for the first time in Greece. The 109 species are distributed in caves of different geographic territories as follows: Thrace – 8 species, Macedonia – 18, Epirus – 1, Thessaly – 6, Central Greece – 3, Attiki-Saronic Islands – 24, Peloponnese – 15, Evoia-Vories Sporades – 1, Eastern Aegean Islands – 5, Cyclades – 3, Dodecanese – 6, Ionian Islands – 23, Crete – 47. The largest fraction of troglobite species were encountered mainly in the territories of Crete – 15 species (5 of which are anophthalmic), the Ionian Islands – 4, Thrace – 2 (both anophthalmic), the Attiki-Saronic Islands – 2 (both anophthalmic), the Peloponnese – 2 (one anophthalmic), and Macedonia, Thessaly, and the Cyclades – each with 2 species. The richness of the troglobitic spidersin these regions strengthens the assumption that they were major centres of speciation and evolution for the species of this group. According to their current distribution, the established 109 species can be classified into 12 zoogeograpical categories, grouped into 4 complexes (widely distributed, European, Mediterranean, endemics). The largest number of species belong to the endemic complex (53.2 %) and are also the most characteristic and reflect the local character of the cave-dwelling spiders.