Spider Diversity and Abundance in Different Habitats of Upper-Northern Rajasthan

International Journal for Environmental Rehabilitation and Conservation ISSN: 0975 — 6272 X (1): 1— 14 www.essence-journal.com

Original Research Article

Spider diversity and abundance in different habitats of Upper-Northern Rajasthan

Malhotra, G.S.1; Kapoor, Neera2 and Saxena, M.M.3 1Mody University of Science and Technology, Laxmangarh, Rajasthan 2Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi 3Tantia University, Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan Corresponding Author: [email protected]

A R T I C L E I N F O Received: 12 February 2019 | Accepted: 29 April 2019 | Published Online: 30 June 2019 DOI: 10.31786/09756272.19.10.1.101 EOI: 10.11208/essence.19.10.1.101 Article is an Open Access Publication. This work is licensed under Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

©The Authors (2019). Publishing Rights @ MANU—ICMANU and ESSENCE—IJERC.

A B S T R A C T Spiders are distributed all over the world and have occupied almost all ecological habitats, except open air and the open sea. They are extremely common representatives of most terrestrial communities and have a profound impact on the insect population of the ecosystem. Their presence and density are directly related to the structure of the habitat. In the present study, the four different natural habitats of the upper northern Rajasthan, namely- Semi-arid Grassland, Scrubland, Open forest land, and Riparian land were studied for spider assemblage. According to the structure of the habitat, the dominance of some specific species was observed. The Neoscona mukerjei was found a prevalent species in 3 habitats out of 4 studied habitats. In spider density perspective, Semi-arid Grassland is exhibiting lowest spider density, 33.33 individual/meter2 and Riparian land is exhibiting the highest spider density 94.62 individual/meter2.

K E Y W O R D S Spider Diversity | Spider density | Ecological habitats | Ground-dwelling spiders | Web-spinning spiders

C I T A T I O N Malhotra, G.S.; Kapoor, Neera and Saxena, M.M. (2019): Spider diversity and abundance in different habitats of Upper-Northern Rajasthan. ESSENCE Int. J. Env. Rehab. Conserv. X (1): 1—14 https://doi.org/10.31786/09756272.19.10.1.101 https://eoi.citefactor.org/10.11208/essence.19.10.1.101

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Introduction spatial arrangement for web placement; therefore, web spiders are particularly more Spiders are distributed all over the world and responsive for the structural complexity have occupied almost all ecological habitats, (Colebourne 1974; Riechert and Gillespie except open air and the open sea. It is 1986; Uetz 1991). In conclusion, spiders are speculated that spiders are playing an diversified predators and are highly essential role in maintaining food chain and influenced by the changes in plant community ecological equilibrium owing to their high structure. abundance and exclusive insectivorous feeding habits (Whitcomb, 1974; Gertsch, Methodology 1979; Łuczak, 1979; Young and Edwards, Study Site and Sampling 1990; Wise, 1993; Nyffeler et al. 1994a). The study was conducted in upper northern Most spiders are relatively small in size (2–10 Rajasthan from July 2013 - September 2016. mm body length), yet some giant tarantulas The 22 sampling sites were selected that may reach a body length of 80–90 mm. Male covered the 4 different natural habitats of the spiders are almost always smaller and have a region, namely- Semi-arid Grassland, shorter life span than females. All spiders are Scrubland, Open forest land, and Riparian carnivorous. Many are specialized as snare land (Figure-1). builders (web spiders), whereas others hunt their victims on the ground (ground dwelling The quadrat sampling method was employed spiders). Insects constitute the principal to take the samples from the field, and a 1×1 portion of the spiders' prey, but certain other metre quadrate was used for it. All the spider arthropods are often consumed. Spiders specimens were collected from each sample exhibit stunning morphological diversity and and accounted for further analysis. The colouration. The exclusive predatory spiders were collected from the 1×1 metre behaviour of spiders have a notable impact on quadrate by standard sampling techniques- the ecosystem (Wise, 1993) and thereby Aerial hand collection, Beating, and Ground regulate insect populations. hand collection (Coddington et al. 1996). The caution was taken to maintain the randomness In spider communities, the structural during the sampling and quadrates were complexity of habitat is the linear function of plotted irrespective of plant species and its spider diversity and abundance (Coleboume size. For trapping and assortment of spiders, 1974; Olive 1980; Robinson 1981; Rypstra different sized plastic tubes viz. - 4.5 ml 1986; Gunnarsson 1988, 1990; Dobel et al. (Axiva), 8 ml (Axiva), 20 ml (Axiva) and 50 1990; Uetz 1991; Ward and Lubin 1993; Wise ml (Tarsons) were used according to their 1993; Pettersson 1996). The structural size. Before starting the sample collection in complexity of habitat may comprise the tubes, the wet cotton plugs with alcohol were vegetational diversity, architectural features, embedded and fixed in the bottom of every canopy openness, level of vegetational tube to paralyse or kill the trapped spider. stratification, and topsoil structure. The structural complexity of habitat offers the

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All the field studies were conducted in the To get a holistic idea and statistically morning hours between 06:00 am to 10:00 am significant results, three random subsequent and during the sampling, the care was taken samples (replicate samples) were taken from that each sample tube contains a single spider each sampling site at the same time. Thereby, specimen since the intra-guild predation a total 66 random samples were taken and (cannibalism) is very common among spiders 4386 specimens were collected over the and arthropods (Rypstra and Samu, 2005). study.

Figure 1. Location of sampling sites in planimetric map of study area

Spider identifications Result and Discussion

The spider specimens were studied under the The baseline inventory of the spider diversity stereo zoom microscopes for taxonomic in upper northern Rajasthan confirms the identification and all specimens were presence of the 39 species which belong to 11 identified using the taxonomic keys for Indian families. More precisely, 11 species in the spiders given by Tikader (1987), Patel and Semi-arid Grassland, 22 species in the Reddy (1990c), Biswas and Biswas (2003), Scrubland, 21 species in the Open forest land, Majumdar (2007) and Sabbastian and Peter and 31 species in the Riparian land, were (2009) and were further verified on the World observed. On species diversity scale, the Spider Catalog (http://wsc.nmbe.ch). Riparian land habitat is the richest habitat among all habitats of upper northern The presented species data is considering only Rajasthan. adult specimens that were trapped in sampling. As juveniles are difficult to The Semi-arid grassland is the characterized identify, therefore juveniles data were omitted by the mixture of grassland and small native and data analysis was performed only on adult arid herbs, and habitat exhibits very low plant specimens. productivity. As productivity hypothesis 3

ESSENCE—IJERC | Malhotra et al. (2019) | X (1): 1—14 explains that the amount of available energy species diversity and total assemblage. sets limits to the richness of the ecosystem Accordingly, overall spider density was (Connell and Orias, 1964; MacArthur, 1969); recorded 33.33 individual/meter2, lowest in all therefore, Semi-arid Grassland has the lowest studied habitats (Table-1).

Semi-arid Grassland S. No. Species Assemblage Number of Total area of Species Density Individuals Assemblage (metre2) (Ind./metre2) 1 Drassodes luridus 11 6 1.83 2 Lycosa sp. 9 6 1.50 3 Pardosa pseudoannulata 1 6 0.17 4 Wadicosa quadrifera 8 6 1.33 5 Hyllus semicupreus 10 6 1.67 6 Plexippus paykulli 81 6 13.5 7 Plexippus petersi 41 6 6.83 8 Plexippus sp. 20 6 3.33 9 Thyene imperialis 13 6 2.17 10 Selenopes sp. 5 6 0.83 11 Tmarus sp. 1 6 0.17

Total 200 6 33.33 Table 1: The species assemblage and density of different sampled spider species in Semi-arid Grassland habitat

The Plexippus paykulli and Plexippus petersi 1991). The Plexippus genus has also been are the most common spider species in Semi- reported in the Indian subcontinents in arid grassland habitat, as their densities viz.- Grasslands and Shrublands (Chetia and Kalita 13.5 and 6.83 individual/meter2 was found to 2012, Tikader 1967, Siliwal et al. 2005). be higher. Instead, 9 rare species were also Similarly, in Scrubland habitat, Arctosa observed in the total spider assemblage of indica, Neoscona mukerjei and Pardosa Semi-arid Grassland habitat (Table-1). pseudoannulata are the most dominant spider Since Plexippus genus belong to the jumping species as they have higher densities viz.- spiders and Semi-arid Grassland is 14.0, 11.5 and 9.25 individual/meter2. Besides represented by the 10-50 cm kinds of grass such dominant species proxies, few rare and herbs that do not allow spiders to build the species were also found with lower densities web. Accordingly, evolutionary forces (Table-2). The overall spider density was supported the jumping spiders in the Semi- recorded 65.50 individual/meter2 in Scrubland arid Grassland habitat (Coddington and Levi, habitat.

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Scrubland

S. No. Species Assemblage Number of Total area of Species Density Individuals Assemblage (metre2) (Ind./metre2) 1 Cyrtophora cicatrosa 2 4 0.5

2 Cyrtophora moluccensis 6 4 1.5

3 Neoscona mukerjei 46 4 11.5

4 Castianeira adhartali 5 4 1.25

5 Callilepis sp. 2 4 0.5

6 Drassodes luridus 5 4 1.25

7 Arctosa indica 56 4 14

8 Lycosa sp. 3 4 0.75

9 Pardosa pseudoannulata 37 4 9.25

10 Oxyopes birmanicus 11 4 2.75

11 Oxyopes chittrae 2 4 0.5

12 Oxyopes sitae 8 4 2

13 Peucetia sp. 2 4 0.5

14 Peucetia viridana 20 4 5

15 Hyllus semicupreus 3 4 0.75

16 Phintella vittata 10 4 2.5

17 Plexippus paykulli 2 4 0.5

18 Plexippus petersi 13 4 3.25

19 Plexippus sp. 1 4 0.25

20 Scytodes sp. 17 4 4.25

21 Selenopes sp. 6 4 1.5

22 Tmarus sp. 5 4 1.25

Total 262 4 65.5

Table 2: The species assemblage and density of different sampled spider species in Scrubland habitat

Scrublands are rendered by the thin diverse favour to ground-dwelling spiders for vegetation, dominated by shrubs and display sustaining in the scrubland habitat (Uetz, remarkable similarities in the vegetational 1991). The Arctosa indica and Pardosa morphology. It exhibits scattered vegetational pseudoannulata are ground-dwelling species canopy containing few architectural features and has been reported in the Indian and low vegetational density. The subcontinent (Dhali et al., 2017; Barrion and architectural features favour to web-spinning Litsinger, 1995). spiders and thin vegetational characters 5

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Open Forest Land S. No. Species Assemblage Number of Total area of Species Density Individuals Assemblage (metre2) (Ind./metre2) 1 Araneus sp. 5 4 1.25 2 Argiope sp. 9 4 2.25 3 Cyclosa sp. 8 4 2 4 Cyrtophora cicatrosa 16 4 4 5 Cyrtophora citricola 7 4 1.75 6 Cyrtophora moluccensis 10 4 2.5 7 Larinia chloris 3 4 0.75 8 Neoscona mukerjei 70 4 17.5 9 Neoscona nautca 10 4 2.5 10 Neoscona sp. 26 4 6.5 11 Neoscona theisi 1 4 0.25 12 Callilepis sp. 14 4 3.5 13 Wadicosa quadrifera 1 4 0.25 14 Oxyopes birmanicus 1 4 0.25 15 Oxyopes chittrae 3 4 0.75 16 Oxyopes sitae 2 4 0.5 17 Peucetia viridana 1 4 0.25 18 Pholcus phalangioides 3 4 0.75 19 Pholcus podophthalmus 3 4 0.75 20 Scytodes sp. 48 4 12 21 Uloborus sp. 2 4 0.5

Total 243 4 60.75

Table 3: The species assemblage and density of different sampled spider species in Open Forest Land habitat

The dominance of ground-dwelling spiders in 2013c and Ade and Dixit, 2016). The the studied Scrubland habitat can be Neoscona mukerjei has a successful life tact explained by the thin vegetational characters for the semi-arid environment that allows it to of the habitat. succeed and architectural features of the Scrublands provide help to build the web The Neoscona mukerjei is a common garden (Ade and Dixit, 2016). Consequently, the web-spinning spider, and it has also been dominance of the Neoscona mukerjei can be reported in different parts of the India described by the ubiquity of architectural (Tikader, 1980b; Tikader and Bal, 1981; features of the Scrubland habitat. Gajbe, 2007; Biswas and Raychaudhuri,

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Riparian Land

S. No. Species Assemblage Number of Total area of Species Density Individuals Assemblage (metre2) (Ind./metre2)

1 Araneus sp. 19 8 2.37

2 Argiope sp. 14 8 1.75 3 Cyclosa sp. 23 8 2.87 4 Cyrtophora cicatrosa 31 8 3.87 5 Cyrtophora citricola 2 8 0.25 6 Cyrtophora moluccensis 5 8 0.62 7 Larinia chloris 6 8 0.75 8 Neoscona biswasi 27 8 3.37 9 Neoscona mukerjei 91 8 11.37 10 Neoscona nautca 12 8 1.5 11 Neoscona sp. 27 8 3.37 12 Neoscona theisi 73 8 9.12 13 Zyngeilla indica 14 8 1.75 14 Castianeira adhartali 52 8 6.5 15 Callilepis sp. 13 8 1.62 16 Arctosa indica 9 8 1.12 17 Pardosa pseudoannulata 7 8 0.87 18 Oxyopes birmanicus 43 8 5.37 19 Oxyopes chittrae 17 8 2.12 20 Oxyopes sitae 21 8 2.62 21 Peucetia sp. 13 8 1.62 22 Peucetia viridana 90 8 11.25 23 Pholcus phalangioides 6 8 0.75 24 Pholcus podophthalmus 5 8 0.62 25 Phintella vittata 6 8 0.75 26 Plexippus petersi 8 8 1 27 Scytodes sp. 88 8 11 28 Tmarus sp. 11 8 1.37 29 Xysticus bengalensis 9 8 1.12 30 Xysticus sp. 11 8 1.37 31 Uloborus sp. 4 8 0.5

Total 757 8 94.62 Table 4: The species assemblage and density of different sampled spider species in Riparian Land habitat

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In the Open forest land habitat, Neoscona Riparian land habitat which is denoted by mukerjei, Scytodes sp., and Neoscona sp. green ribbons of trees, shrubs, and grasses were the common species and as they have growing along the edge of surface or higher densities viz.- 17.5, 12, and 6.5 subsurface water drainage. Due to the individual/meter2 (Table-3). Along with 3 availability of the water, it is the most abundant species, 14 species were found to be productive habitat of the study area. The 4 rare in the total spider assemblage (Table-3). common and 17 rare species were recorded The Neoscona mukerjei, Neoscona sp. and within the habitat. It is the richest in species Scytodes sp. are web-spinning spiders and has diversity and total assemblage of spiders already been reported in Indian subcontinents (Table-4). The high species richness and high (Tikader, 1980b; Tikader and Bal, 1981; total assemblage in Riparian land can be Gajbe, 2007; Biswas and Raychaudhuri, explained by the productivity hypothesis 2013c and Ade and Dixit, 2016). The open (Connell and Orias, 1964; MacArthur, 1969). forest land is mostly represented by the dry The high productivity of Riparian land ensure deciduous trees patches, settled in the the availability of the insect prey to spiders as Agricultural land, Grassland or Scrubland. It well as provide excellent architectural contains elongated trees with high vertical features for the web building (Uetz, 1991; complexity. Hence, high vertical complexity Rypstra et al., 1999 and Rosas-Ramos et al., patches favour the web-spinning spiders but 2019). Accordingly, the total assemblage of at the same time overall less density of trees the riparian land habitat is rich in web- in the terrain i.e. less number of trees per spinning spiders like Neoscona mukerjei, square km, reduces the density of the web- Neoscona theisi, Peucetia viridana, and spinning spiders (Uetz, 1991). Thereafter, Scytodes sp. These species have higher open forest land dominates by web-spinning densities and also have already been reported spiders but with a low total assemblage of in Indian subcontinents, Neoscona mukerjei spiders. The overall spider density was (11.37 individual/meter2) and Neoscona theisi recorded 60.75 individual/meter2 in Open (9.12 individual/meter2) (Tikader, 1980b; forest land habitat. Tikader and Bal, 1981; Gajbe, 2007; Biswas 11

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