The Spider Communities

Abstract

Most of the very few studies on spiders in Amazonia deal with taxonomic aspects. Only recently have comprehensive studies on spider communities begun (Höfer 1990a,b; Höfer et al. 1994a,b; Vieira and Höfer 1994). From August 1987 to May 1988 the spider fauna of the litter, ground surface, lower vegetation and lower trunk area was studied in the igapó of Tarumä Mirím and in the várzea of Ilha de Marchantaria, using circular pitfall traps (see Platnick and Höfer 1990), ground-photoeclectors and arboreal funnel traps. Comparative studies have been conducted since 1991 on terra firme in the forest reserve “Reserva Ducke” near Manaus. In 1991 and 1992 canopy fogging allowed the collection of spiders from the canopies of trees in Reserva Ducke and on Ilha de Marchantaria. Details about the sampling sites are given in Chapter 2.