The faunistic diversity of cave-dwelling spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) of Greece

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

Biotopical distribution and seasonal activity of model species of the family Gnaphosidae (Araneae) in Zemen gorge (SW Bulgaria)

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

A survey of spiders (Araneae) inhabiting the euedaphic soil stratum and the superficial underground compartment in Bulgaria

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

Description of Ozyptila balcanica sp. n. from the Balkan Peninsula and its Comparison with the closely related O. umbraculorum Simon, 1932 (Araneae: Thomisidae)

Ozyptila balcanica sp. n. is described (based on both males and females) from Bulgaria (Zemen Gorge), Greece (Arkadia, Mainalo) and FYR Macedonia (Skopje Region, Osogovo Mts.). The new species resembles the poorly known O. umbraculorum Simon, 1932, recorded from France, Portugal and Spain, but is clearly a distinct species. Illustrations of both taxa are presented. Due to the isolated position of both species in the genus, we proposed a new species group – umbraculorum, characterised by a large intermediate apophysis (ITA), armed with well-developed teeth, and a long scimitar-shaped tegular apophysis. The females have similar epigynes with pan-shaped median septum.This study has been supported by the SYNTHESYS Project (http://www.synthesys.info/) financed by EC Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 “Capacities” Program. Part of this project was co-founded also by the European Union (European Social Fund) and National Resources under the Operational Programme “Education and Lifelong Learning” Action 81324 – SPIDOnetGR, ARISTEIA II Programme, NSRF 2007-2013.Peer reviewe

Description of Histopona kurkai sp. n. with new data for the genus from the Balkan Peninsula (Arachnida, Araneae: Agelenidae)

Histopona kurkai sp. nov. (♂♀) is described and illustrated from Albania (Shebenik, Jabllanicë national park) and RN Macedonia (Shar Mountains), where it was collected in beech forest habitats. The new species has somatic characters that correspond well to those of the genus Histopona (torpida group). Also, Histopona vignai Brignoli, 1980 is newly established for the spider fauna of Albania (Hotova national park) and RN Macedonia (Shar Mountains)

New faunistic and taxonomic notes on the Haplogyne and Cribellate spiders (Araneae: Dictynidae, Dysderidae, Eresidae, Filistatidae, Sicariidae) from three Balkan countries

In this paper, we report for the first time two spider species for Albania, four for Bulgaria and two for Greece: Altella lucida (Simon, 1874) (Bulgaria), Eresus moravicus Rezác, 2008 (Bulgaria and Greece), Filistata insidiatrix (Forsskål, 1775) (Albania), Harpactea samuili Lazarov, 2006 (Greece), Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820) (Albania), Pritha parva Legittimo, Simeon, Di Pompeo et Kulczycki, 2017 (Bulgaria) and Pritha vestita (Simon, 1873) (Bulgaria). The recently described species P. parva is the first report for the Balkan Peninsula, while P. vestita is the first record for mainland Europe. Their congener Pritha nana (Simon, 1868) is removed from the Bulgarian checklist of spiders (misidentification). As a result of our report, the number of spider species increases to 571, 1049 and 1183 in Albania, Bulgaria and Greece, respectively

Local- versus broad-scale environmental drivers of continental β-diversity patterns in subterranean spider communities across Europe

Macroecologists seek to identify drivers of community turnover (β-diversity) through broad spatial scales. However, the influence of local habitat features in driving broad-scale β-diversity patterns remains largely untested, owing to the objective challenges of associating local-scale variables to continental-framed datasets. We examined the relative contribution of local- versus broad-scale drivers of continental β-diversity patterns, using a uniquely suited dataset of cave-dwelling spider communities across Europe (35–70° latitude). Generalized dissimilarity modelling showed that geographical distance, mean annual temperature and size of the karst area in which caves occurred drove most of β-diversity, with differential contributions of each factor according to the level of subterranean specialization. Highly specialized communities were mostly influenced by geographical distance, while less specialized communities were mostly driven by mean annual temperature. Conversely, local-scale habitat features turned out to be meaningless predictors of community change, which emphasizes the idea of caves as the human accessible fraction of the extended network of fissures that more properly represents the elective habitat of the subterranean fauna. To the extent that the effect of local features turned to be inconspicuous, caves emerge as experimental model systems in which to study broad biological patterns without the confounding effect of local habitat features

Spiders in caves: the CAWEB project

World experts of different disciplines, from molecular biology to macroecology, recognize the value of cave ecosystems as ideal ecological and evolutionary laboratories. Among other subterranean taxa, spiders stand out as intriguing model organisms for their ecological role of top-predators, their unique adaptations to the hypogean medium and their sensitivity to anthropogenic disturbance. Here, we provide a general overview of the spider families recorded in hypogean habitats in Europe–20 families including nearly 500 species, most of them with restricted distributions. We also review the different adaptations of hypogean spiders to subterranean life and summarize the information gathered so far about their origin, population structure, ecology and conservation status. Taxonomic knowledge on subterranean spiders in Europe appears to be well, but not exhaustively documented. The origin of the European assemblages is mostly explained by past climate dynamics, although other factors are likely to be involved. Most of the macroecological issues related to spiders in European caves are based on qualitative assessments or have been quantified only at a sub-regional scale. In order to shed light on cave spiders’ biogeography and the macroecological patterns driving the diversity of European subterranean spiders we created the CAWEB network, a spontaneous collaboration between subterranean arachnologists from 30 different European countries. We here present the team and provide some preliminary results, which highlight Southern Europe as an important hot-spot for the European subterranean spider diversity