On epigeic spider assemblages (Arachnida: Aranei) of oak forests in the Leopard Land National Park and the Kedrovaya Pad’ Reserve, Maritime Territory, the Russian Far East

Abstract

The epigeic spider assemblages of oak forests were studied in the Leopard Land National Park and the Kedrovaya Pad’ Nature Reserve in Russia. The material was collected from four sites in 2018–2020. Overall, the field work covered the period from 23 May to September 2. In the oak forests studied, 956 adult spider individuals, representing 51 species, 40 genera, and 15 families, were collected. Two species, Zelotes kimwha (Gnaphosidae) and Lasaeola yoshidai (Theridiidae), are new for the Russian fauna. The family Lycosidae was the most abundant worldwide. The most numerous species was the wolf spider, Alopecosa virgata. Diversity indices showed higher values at the end of the activity time when the abundance of the dominant species sharply decreased and the structure of the assemblages became more even. A more or less stable, albeit low activity was recorded only for Alloclubionoides paiki (Agelenidae). The results of the multivariate analysis of variance showed that the studied spider assemblages in the four oak forest plots differed significantly with respect to “site” and “season”. However, the contribution of the “season” parameter to the differentiation of assemblages was the greatest. The peak of spider activity occurs in the first decade of June in the mixed shrub-oak forest.

Keywords

• assemblages
• oak forests
• Russian Far East
• spiders