Results of araneological studies in the Pryazovskyi National Nature Park and its vicinity (Zaporizhzhia Region, Ukraine)

Abstract

In total, 109 species of spiders are known from the territory of Pryazovskyi National Nature Park. The araneofauna of Zaporizhzhia Region includes 188 species, 34 of them are recorded in this paper for the fist time. This is the least studied regional araneofauna in Left-bank Ukraine. Most of the spiders were collected by pitfall traps, therefore, the families Gnaphosidae and Lycosidae were best represented. The Gnaphosidae was the most abundant, 35.3% of the total species found; the proportion of Lycosidae is three times less (11.8%). The number of spiders at all sites was higher in halophytic habitats compared to fescue-feather grass and sandy steppes. In the six studied segments of the park, the spider species richness varied from 50 species in Davydivka to 21‒23 in Syvashyk and Nove. The distribution of many species in the park is mosaic. Gnaphosa cumensis Ponomarev, 1981, G. steppica Ovtsharenko, Platnick et Song, 1992, Micaria coarctata (Lucas, 1846), and Pardosa luctinosa Simon, 1876 were found only in the Davydivka segment; Agroeca cuprea Menge, 1873 and Ozyptila pullata (Thorell, 1875) —in Syvashyk; Arctosa cinerea (Fabricius, 1777), Mustelicosa dimidiatа (Thorell, 1875), and Trochosa ruricola (De Geer, 1778) — on Fedotova Spit; Gnaphosa leporina (L. Koch, 1866) and Pseudomogrus vittatus (Thorell, 1875) — on Fedotova and Stepanivska spits. The ecological valence of Zelotes prishutovae Ponomarev et Tsvetkov, 2006 was narrowing from various grassland habitats in the center of its range to halophytic ones in the west. Leptopilos memorialis (Spassky, 1940) and Heriaeus horridus Tystshenko, 1965 also showed a change in habitat preference. 1 fig., 2 tabs, 10 refs.