A synthesis on cave-dwelling spiders in Europe

Mammola, Stefano; Cardoso, Pedro; Ribera, Carles; Pavlek, Martina; Isaia, Marco (2017) A synthesis on cave-dwelling spiders in Europe. Journal of zoological systematics and evolutionary research, 56 (3). pp. 301-316. ISSN 0947-5745

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Abstract

We provide the first overview on spiders living in subterranean habitats in Europe, including the first European subterranean spider checklist. In Europe, there are 486 spider species known to dwell in caves and other subterranean habitats, distributed across 22 families. Despite a few species being able to colonize caves across the whole continent, approximately 90% of the species show a restricted distribution, occurring exclusively in one or two countries. From a biogeographic perspective, southern Europe emerges as the main hot spot of subterranean spider diversity, showing the highest richness of endemic species. Compared to other temperate regions of the world, some families appear to be well represented and other poorly represented (or lacking) in European subterranean habitats. Overall, it appears that the taxonomical knowledge on subterranean spiders in Europe is sufficient, but not evenly distributed. As this checklist represents a useful baseline for advances in this field, we point out specific areas of interest for future research.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Araneae ; checklist ; hypogean habitat ; speleobiology ; subterranean biology
Subjects:	NATURAL SCIENCES > Biology
Divisions:	Division of Molecular Biology
Depositing User:	Martina Pavlek
Date Deposited:	17 May 2022 07:25
URI:	http://fulir.irb.hr/id/eprint/7358
DOI:	10.1111/jzs.12201

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