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Spiders from Red Mercury Island, by D. J. Court, P 87-9012 Spiders From 87 SPIDERS FROM RED MERCURY ISLAND. by D.J. Court* SUMMARY Spiders were collected from Red Mercury Island in August, 1971. Abundance and habitats of twenty-six genera including thirty-four species are noted. The occurrence and distribution of certain species are discussed. INTRODUCTION The study of spiders in New Zealand is still essentially at the taxonomic stage and few comprehensive collections of spiders from a restricted locality have been described. The present study is therefore limited, as most spiders can be identified only to generic level and no basis for comparison exists for collections of spiders. It is of interest to find how many introduced species are present on this island. A number of species introduced to New Zealand would be expected, as the prevailing westerly winds could carry spiderlings over the comparatively short distance from the mainland. On Red Mercury Island, the number of spider habitats appears reduced when compared with those of the mainland; habitat diversity however remains wide. Spiders were collected systematically from all parts of the island. Within the coastal forest, sifting of leaf litter provided a few specimens only, many more spiders being found on tree trunks or foliage. An interesting fauna was found in the maritime and spray zones, and very large populations were present on sheltered coastal cliff faces. The collection is held at the Otago Museum, Dunedin. The abundance scale given here is subjective, being based upon ease of capture and general obser• vations. Nomenclature follows Forster (1967, 70) and Forster and Wilton (1968). GENERA AND HABITATS Order Araneae Sub-order Mygalomorpha Dipluridae Aparua sp. Two specimens only with open silk tubes extending deep into saturated moss; below a waterfall. Rare. Sub-order Araneomorpha Segestriidae Ariadna sp. Silk tube open at one end with many single threads radiating from the opening. Colonies on cliffs exposed to salt spray and in association with Otagoa. Abundant. *Botany Department, University of Auckland. 88 Agelenidae Cambridge/! plagiata A large spider building an extensive sheet web. Range from coastal forest to crevices in boulder beaches at the EHWS mark. Common. Clubionidae Clubiona sp. Occasional on foliage of maritime and forest vegetation. Common. Gnaphosidae Two species of un-named genus. One abundant in rotting logs, tree-trunks and other habitats; the other species from maritime vegetation. Common. Mimetidae Mimetus sp. Coastal forest. Rare. Theridiidae Argyrodes sp. Commensal in webs of larger spiders such 3% Aranea pustulosa and Cambridgea plagiata. Feed on midges caught in the web of the 'host' spider. Common. Achaearanea 3 spp. Numerous specimens in many generalised habitats such as crevices in tree trunks and between rocks. Abundant. Rhomphaea sp. Common in low scrub. Epeiriidae Aranea pustulosa (Walck.) A. saxatilis Aranea 2 spp. A. saxatilis and one un-named species were found in mari• time vegetation. The other un-named species only in coastal forest and in scrub. A. pustulosa was found throughout the island. Arachnura cf. feredayi (Koch. L. ) Two specimens 0.1 - 1.0 m above ground level in coastal forest. Leucauge dromedaria Tetragnatha sp. Both common in coastal forest. Uloboridae Uloborus sp. Coastal forest. Rare. Salticidae Trite auricoma T. planiceps Trite sp. 2 un-named species of 2 genera other than Trite. Linyphiidae Macrargus sp. Single specimen. Super-family Dictynoidea (Forster, 1970) Desidae Sub-family Desinae Ixeuticus martins (Simon) /. robustus (L. Koch) Common throughout the maritime and coastal forest. Sub-family Myroninae Otagoa sp. Found in the situation described for the colonics of Ariadna. Abundant. Gasparia cf. nebulosa (Marplcs) Coastal forest. Common. Dictynidae Paradictyna rufoflava (Chamb.) Viridictyna sp. Both are small green spiders found running rapidly over foliage. Common. Amaurobioididae Amaurobioides sp. A small number of this genus were found in open silk tubes. The tubes were spun inside the vesicles of basalt boulders which lay below HWS or within the spray zone. Super family Amaurobioidea Neolana sp. Sheet webs of calamistrated silk found in abundance on the sides of tree trunks, cliffs and boulders within the shelter of coastal forest. Syrorisa aucklandensis. Coastal forest. Common. DISCUSSION The boulder beaches and coastal cliffs of Red Mercury Island contain large populations of spiders, existing in colonies where suitable substrates occur. On this island, where cliffs are damp with condensation or salt spray, large numbers of Ariadna sp. and Otagoa sp. build tubes from which they emerge to prey on insects and crustaceans of the littoral fringe. Similar colonies in cliffs below the Marine Research Laboratory, Leigh (100 km north of Auckland) have been observed. These contained undescribed species of Ariadna, Otagoa (and near relatives), and Amaurobioides. There is increasing evidence that these coastal species form a large part of the spider fauna of New Zealand. The spiders of the coastal forest and scrub of Red Mercury Island seem to be similar to those of coastal forest habitats on the mainland. However, the rarity of spiders of the family Dipluridae was noteworthy; only two specimens of Aparua sp. being found. This is unusual as large numbers of diplurids are found in coastal localities elsewhere, especially Hexathele hochstetteri of the Auckland region. At present, the small number of diplurids on the island cannot be accounted for in terms of rainfall, substrate nature, or other factors. On the mainland, the spider Stiphidion facetum (which has probably been introduced from Australia; Forster 1970 pers. comm.) is extremely common in dry, sheltered habitats such as flaking pohutukawa bark. No specimens of this species were found on Red Mercury Island, although there appeared to be many suitable places. Instead these habitats support a large population of a species endemic to New Zealand;Neolana sp. Both Neolana and Stiphidion lay down lattices of clamistrated silk to produce webs of approximately the same size. The web platforms can be oriented in any plane from horizontal to vertical depending upon the slope of the substrate. Both webs are constructed with retreats close to the substrate and their snares seem to be adapted for catching small flying insects blown in an airstream parallel to the substrate surface. Stiphidion is 90 common on islands of the Hauraki Gulf and it therefore seems reasonable to assume that spiderlings of this species are capable of dispersing aerially a distance at least 10-20 km from the mainland. The apparent absence of Stiphidion face turn on Red Mercury may be explained by the presence of the resident population of Neolana which reduces its numbers of prey and the availability of sites for web construction. The success of Stiphidion on the mainland and Hauraki Gulf islands may be due to changes in vegetation cover which proved to be unsuitable for Neolana. The presence of Aparua sp. and Amaurohioides sp. is interesting as these genera have a limited dispersal ability;isolated populations tend to form distinct species. On Red Mercury they may therefore be undescribed. The spider fauna of the island appears to lack several important families, including trap door spiders (Migidae), wolf spiders (Lycosidae) and crab spiders (Thomisidae). Introduced species include Ixeuticus martins and Aranea pustulosa, both of which are distributed throughout New Zealand. The linyphiid, possibly Macrargus sp., is a European spider and has not previously been recorded in New Zealand. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to thank Dr R.R. Forster for identifying many of the specimens, for reading the script, and offering his useful comments. REFERENCES Forster, R.R 1967 The Spiders of New Zealand. Part 1. Otago Mus. Bull. I: 124pp. Forster, R.R 1968 The Spiders of New Zealand. Part 2. Otago Mus. Bull. 2: Wilton, C.L. 180pp. Forster, R.R 1970 The Spiders of New Zealand. Part 3. Otago Mus. Bull. 3: 184pp. .
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