Available online at www.worldscientificnews.com WSN 47(2) (2016) 298-317 EISSN 2392-2192 Indian Lycosoidea Sundevall (Araneae: Opisthothelae: Araneomorphae) in Different States and Union Territories Including an Annotated Checklist Dhruba Chandra Dhali1,*, P. M. Sureshan1, Kailash Chandra2 1Zoological Survey of India, Western Ghat Regional Centre, Kozkhikore - 673006, India 2Zoological Survey of India, M- Block, New Alipore, Kolkata - 700053, India *E-mail address:
[email protected] ABSTRACT Annotated checklist of Lycosoidea so far recorded from different states and union territories of India reveals a total of 251 species under 38 genera belonging five families. The review cleared that diversity of lycosoid spider fauna is maximum in West Bengal followed by Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and they are not distributed maximally in the states and union territories within Biodiversity hotspots. This fauna is distributed all over the country. There is nearly 69.35% endemism (in context of India). Keywords: Distribution; Lycosoidea; India; State; Union Territories; Annotated; checklist 1. INTRODUCTION Spiders, composing the order Araneae Clerck, 1757 is the largest group among arachnids and separated into two suborders: Mesothelae Pocock, 1892 (segmented spiders) World Scientific News 47(2) (2016) 298-317 and Opisthothelae Pocock, 1892 (includes all other spiders). Later one is further divided into two infraorders: Mygalomorphae Pocock, 1892 (ancient' spiders) and Araneomorphae Smith, 1902 (modern' spiders include the vast majority of spiders) (Coddington, 2005; WSC, 2015). Araneomorphae composed of 99 families and most of them can be divided into at least six clades and 11 super-families, though some are still unplaced in that system (Zhang, 2011).