A check-list and zoogeographic analysis of the spider fauna (Arachnida: Aranei) of novosibirsk area (West Siberia, Russia)

Abstract

A check-list of the spiders (Arachnida, Aranei) recorded from Novosibirsk Area (364 species in 157 genera and 26 families) is provided, with the references to exact collection localities, administrative units, natual complexes, and latitudinal & longitudinal components of their ranges. Of the reported spiders, 164 species, 53 genera and three families, including two new species that are being currently described, have been recorded from the Area for the first time. A large number of the species having the northernmost or morth-easternmost limits of their distribution in Novosibirsk Area is indicative of the importance of the latitudinal boundary occurring on its territory and also of the similarity of spider faunas between the south part of Novosibirsk Area and Kazakhstan. It is also possible that the penetration of southern species northward during the latest decades is related to the warming and aridization of climate in West Siberia, as shown for other invertebrate groups. Based on the Shimkevich-Simpson Similarity Index, the spider faunas of six provinsional units (natural complexes) of Novosibirsk Area are grouped in two clusters: those of left and right banks of Ob’ River. The faunas of the left bank forest and forest-steppe (Baraba) subzones are close and distinct from those of the right bank faunas. In the right bank cluster, an anticipated similarity of Priobsky faunas is observed, with the araneofauna of the Salair Ridge standing apart. The subdivision and zoogeographic regioning of local ground-beetle faunas of Novosibirsk Area is approximately the same as those revealed for spiders.