Abstract

GUERRERO-FUENTES, Dariana R.  and  DESALES-LARA, Marco Antonio. Ground-Spiders of RTA clade (Arachnida: Araneae) of southern Tonatico, Estado de México, Mexico. Acta Zool. Mex [online]. 2021, vol.37, e3712306.  Epub Sep 27, 2021. ISSN 2448-8445.  https://doi.org/10.21829/azm.2021.3712306.

Ecological studies about spiders within the RTA clade are scarce in Mexico. In the present we analyze the abundance, species richness, diversity, composition, and structure of RTA-spider communities in three sites with different vegetation and between rainy and dry season. The sites correspond to human-induced grassland, pine forest and deciduous tropical forest of southern Tonatico, Estado de México. Spiders were collected monthly, from November 2011 to October 2012, using pitfall-traps at each site. We collected 805 spiders from 16 families, 29 genera and 49 species. The most abundant families were Lycosidae, Gnaphosidae, Salticidae and Corinnidae; while the most abundant species were Pardosa medialis, P. pauxilla and P. marialuisae. We did not find differences in the abundance, richness, or diversity between sites. However, we found differences in the species composition at each site and a general pattern of high abundance and species richness in the rainy season. Our results showed a distinct ecological category of shared species between sites. We suggested that differences in structure and composition of spider communities are a response to dissimilarities in vegetation, and the seasonal pattern is related with the availability of resources of the rainy season. Future investigations should evaluate microclimatic variables to understand, on a better way, the composition and structure of RTA-spider communities.

Keywords : ecological assembles; epigean spiders; seasonality; biological inventories.

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