Zoogeography of Salticidae (Arachnida: Araneae) of New Zealand First Approach
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ANNALES ZOOLOGICI (Warszawa), 2002, 52(3): 459-464 ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF SALTICIDAE (ARACHNIDA: ARANEAE) OF NEW ZEALAND FIRST APPROACH MAREK ¯ABKA1, SIMON D. POLLARD2 and MATHEW ANSTEY3 1Katedra Zoologii Akademii Podlaskiej, 08-110 Siedlce, Poland, e-mail: [email protected] 2Canterbury Museum, Rolleston Avenue, 8001 Chrischurch, New Zealand, e-mail: [email protected] 3Department of Zoology, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract.— According to our unpublished data some 30 genera and 200 species of Salticidae can be expected in New Zealand. The fauna is highly endemic, both on a generic and a specific levels. The most diverse are two groups of genera: Trite minax [=planiceps] and “Trite” auricoma are the best known representatives of every group. The relationships between Salticidae of New Zealand and Australia, are limited to single representatives of Opisthoncus, Holoplatys, Ocrisiona, Helpis, “Lycidas”, “Clynotis” and Hypoblemum. Wide-spread genera are represented by Neon and Bianor and pantropical Hasarius adansoni is found in the warmer climate of North Island. To a limited extent New Zealand is a source of fauna for other Pacific archipelagos, for example species of Trite are found in New Caledonia and Caroline Islands. Ë Key words.— Biogeography, Salticidae, New Zealand. INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS Of about 50 salticid species formally recorded in New The material we analysed covered various habitats Zealand (¯abka and Anstey in press), great majority throughout New Zealand, including the coastline, alpine were described in the nineteenth century, only some areas, subantarctic islands, Nothofagus and subtropical have been properly diagnosed and are recognisable. forests, and was provided by the following New Zealand Most species were put within wrong genera (Attus, institutions and colleagues: Otago Museum, Dunedin (Brian Marpissa, Salticus), many others are to be described. Patrick, Erena Barker, Simon Wylie); Auckland Museum In the past the efforts to provide a proper list of New Entomology Collection, Auckland (John Early); Canterbury Zealand Salticidae or to verify early descriptions were Museum, Christchurch; Lincoln University, Lincoln (Cor undertaken by Urquhart (1892), Parrott (1942) and Vink); Te Papa, Wellington (Phil Sirvid); Landcare Research Bryant (1935a, b) all with limited success. NZAC (Trevor Crosby); Canterbury University, Christ- In 2000 we began a long-term project on taxonomy church (Robert Jackson, Christchurch). The study was also and zoogeography of New Zealand Salticidae with the supplemented by our own field research. following goals: (1) to describe (redescribe) all the taxa available from the country, (2) to analyse the faunistic diversity for particular areas and habitats, (3) to RESULTS analyse the relationships between New Zealand and other faunas of the S-W Pacific, (4) to estimate the influ- Jumping spiders a model-group ence of Gondwanan heritage and post-Gondwanan iso- lation on New Zealand salticids and, in more distant Jumping spiders have long been considered a good future: (5) to reconstruct the zoogeographical history of model for zoogeographical research (Prószyñski 1976, Salticidae of Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. 1996; ¯abka 1990a, 1991b, 1993; Patoleta and ¯abka In this paper we provide general introductory com- 1999; ¯abka and Nentwig 2000). ments, our approach to the problem and remarks on salti- 1. The family is well defined, diverse (about 5000 species cid age, distribution, habitat preferences and dispersal. described) and its taxonomy is relatively well studied. 460 M. ŻABKA, S. D. POLLARD and M. ANSTEY Figure 1. The beaches of New Zealand are littered with driftwood, showing the possibility of rafting. West coast, Harihari area. (Photo by M. ¯abka). Figure 3. Dacrydium sp. is one of the Gondwanan relics. West coast, Harihari area. Figure 2. Tree fern forests are known to support (Photo by M. ¯abka). many endemic salticids. West coast, Harihari area. (Photo by M. ¯abka). Figure 4. Mountain moss forests support New Zealand endemics. West coast, Harihari area. (Photo by M. ¯abka). 2. In geological scale the group seems old enough to New Zealand those of Australia and western Pacific analyse the impact of long-term processes. islands are the best known (e.g., Wanless 1988; Prószyñski 3. There is some data on dispersal of the family and 1992, 1996; ¯abka 1988a, 1990b, 1991a, 1994, 2000; Berry particular species. et al. 1996, 1997, 1998) making a good basis for this study. 4. The local/continental faunas are well distinguished. During the last 30 years a number of papers on differ- The age ent salticid genera and subfamilies have been published by Galiano, Logunov, Maddison, Prószyñski, Wanless, The salticid fossils are 3050 milion years old Weso³owska, ¯abka, and others (for complete review see (Prószyñski and ¯abka 1980, 1983, Wanless 1984, Prószyñski 2002). Of all the faunas potentially influencing Wunderlich 1986, ¯abka 1988b) and the evidence for the ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF SALTICIDAE OF NEW ZEALAND 461 Figure 5. The river beds are important migration routes for spiders, e.g. for Bianor sp. West coast, Franz Joseph area. (Photo by M. ¯abka). Figure 7. The mountain rainforests are amongst the most spectacular and beautiful on Earth. West coast, Harihari area. (Photo by M. ¯abka). Figure 8. Manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) Figure 6. Some central and western mountain ranges were rapidly created during the last few forests resemble wet sclerophyll forests of million years, providing unique conditions for speciation. Mt Cook, 3764 m. (Photo by M. ¯abka). Australia, but, with few exception (e.g., single species of Holoplatys) they support different spider communities. Canterbury, Hinewai. M. Dispersal (Photo by M. ¯abka). To understand the distribution of the group, its dis- present-day genera is even younger (Cutler 1984, Wolff persal has to be considered. In our case rafting, bal- 1990). However, the diversity of the fossil taxa, their looning and human agency seem the most likely ways of affinities with modern salticids and the presence of dispersal. Some beaches of New Zealand, are covered Jurassic Salticidae in New Jersey amber (Wayne with masses of driftwood. Although most of it is of local Maddison pers. comm.) suggest that the family is origin, the specimens and egg-sacs of Australian much older and that the present-day genera might have Holoplatys, that can be found in crevices and under existed much earlier (Prószyñski and ¯abka 1983, bark, suggest long-distance rafting from Australia Cutler 1984). which is quite likely due to favourable sea currents. A 462 M. ŻABKA, S. D. POLLARD and M. ANSTEY mystery is the presence of Marpissa marina (related If we are going to search for southern faunistic relics, to Australian Lycidas) on pebbly beaches and rocky we have to consider the age of taxa, their taxonomic level shore cliffs. The strong retreats and (water-proof?) egg- and appropriate endemic biota. Any Gondwanan sacs that can be found under rocks and stones in the Salticidae to occur in New Zealand, must have existed at tidal zone, seem a perfect adaptation for rafting. least 6080 million years ago. As the oldest known identifi- However, neither specimens, retreats nor egg-sacs of able genera are much younger, the search for Gondwanan this species have been observed on driftwood. If relics may seem pointless though the taxonomic diversity Marpissa marina does disperse by rafting, it seems of the oldest fossils suggests that the present-day genera to do it only within New Zealand as it has not been may have existed much earlier than we think today. recorded anywhere else. However, the question whether they have witnessed the Ballooning is another way of dispersal. Theoretically, break up of Gondwana remains with no answer. the size and favourable W→E winds nominate Australia The search for Gondwanan salticid relics has usual- the best source of ballooners. In contrast to other spider ly been a side-effect of studies on the taxonomy of trop- families (araneids, linyphiids, oxyopids), salticids con- ical and subtropical faunas. Such an approach could not stitute only a tiny fraction (about 1.8%) of araneoplank- have been successful because warm-climate-biota are of ton (Horner 1975; Salmon and Horner 1977, Greenstone more recent origin. The salticids of Australian et all. 1987; Blandenier and Fürst 1998) and as such are Eucalyptus forest, for instance, show very high rather poor candidates for aerodispersal. It seems that (neo)endemism, but no evidence of Gondwanan heritage only Helpis minitabunda is an effective Australian bal- (¯abka 1990a, 2000). looner that reaches New Zealand and inhabits warmer So, where to look for Gondwanan relics? parts of North and South Islands. In this case human Theoretically, the old temperate biota such as agency may also contribute (Patoleta and ¯abka 1999). Nothofagus-, Podocarpus- or Dacrydium-forests, either in New Zealand or in south Australia, Tasmania and The distance between Australia and New Zealand acts south Chile are to be considered. Our preliminary data as a fine sieve through which only few ballooners can from New Zealand and Australia (including Tasmania) pass. Also narrow niche specialists of Australia are (¯abka unpubl.) make us rather sceptical about southern poor candidates for successful colonisers of completely salticid relics. Even if they do exist in New Zealand, they different biota on the other side of Tasman Sea. will be difficult to identify as such because of lack of Of five candidate-species that may have arrived with appropriate southern faunas elsewhere to compare them humans, only Hasarius adansoni has been recorded with (some suggest southern Chile would be a good area on the North Island. to take a closer look). It is likely that in the majority of While rafting, ballooning or human agency are nec- temperate habitats, southern salticid taxa have been essary for newcomers to arrive, the spreading within replaced by modern neoendemics as the example of the country can (further) be made by slow penetration.