ECOTAXONOMICAL STUDIES OF ARANEAE IN BAHAWALPUR. A THESIS SUBMITTED TO “THE ISLAMIA UNIVERSITY OF BAHAWALPUR” PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MS Zoology By Sumaira Kausar Under the supervision of DR. NUZHAT SIAL Department of Life sciences, The Islmia University of Bahawalpur, i ii CONTENTS Title Page # List of Tables................................................................................................. ....... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................... ....... v Abstract..................................................................................................................vi 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... ....... 01 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................... ....... 03 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS ............................................................... ....... 10 3.1. Study sites ............................................................................................. ....... 10 3.1.1. Soil characteristic ...................................................................... ....... 11 3.1.2. Plant Species 11 3.1.3. Climate 12 3.2 Methodology .................................................................................. ……13 3.2.1 Manual hand picking ............................................................... ....... 13 3.2.2 Pit fall traps ............................................................................. …… 13 3.2.3Jerking method 13 3.2.4 Preservation 13 3.3 Labelling of Specimens 13 3.4 Identification .................................................................................. ........ 13 3.5 Statistical analysis ................................................................................. ........ 14 4. RESULTS .................................................................................................... ........ 16 Key to families of Pakistani Spiders 16 4.1 Family Sparassidae 17 4.1.1 Genus Olios Walckenaer, 1837 17 4.1.1.1 Olios lutescens 17 4.1.1.2 Olios flavidus (O-P. Cambridge, 1895) 17 4.2 Family Hersilidae Audouin, 1826 18 4.2.1 Genus Hersilia Auduoin, 1826 18 4.2.1.1 Hersilia savigni Auduoin, 1826 18 4.3 Family Pholsidae C. L. Koch, 1851 19 4.3.1 Genus Pholcus Walckenaer, 1805 19 4.3.1.1 Pholcus phalangioides (Fuesslin, 1775 19 i 4.4 Family Salticidae Latreile, 1804 20 4.4.1 Genus Marpissa C.L Kock, 1846 20 4.4.1.1 Marpissa mirabilis Tikader, 2000 20 4.4.1.1 Marpissa tigrina Tikader, 1965 20 4.5 Family Araneidae Simon, 1895 22 Key to Pakistani genera of family Araneidae 22 4.5.1 Genus Araneus Clerck, 1757 22 4.5.1.1 Araneus mitifica Simon, 1886 22 4.5.1.2 Genus Neoscona Simon, 1864 23 Key to Pakistani species of genus Neoscona 23 4.5.2.1 Neoscona theis (Walackenear) 23 4.6 Family Clubionidae Wagner, 1887 24 Key to the Genera of family Clubionidae 24 4.6.1 Genus Clubiona Latreille, 1804 25 Key to the Pakistani species of genus Clubiona Latreille 25 4.6.1.1Clubionafilicata O. P. Cambridge, 1874 25 4.6.1.2Clubionapashabhaii Patel & Patel, 1973 26 4.6.1.3Cludhia ludhinaensis Tikader 27 4.7 Family Gnaphosidae Pocock, 1884. 28 4.7.1 Genus Zelotes Gistel, 1848 28 Key to Pakistani species of Genus Zelotes Gistel, 1848 29 4.7.1.1 Zelotes sajali Tlkader and Gajbi 1979 29 4.8 Family Oxyopidae, Latreillae 1804 30 4.8.1 Genus oxyopes, Latereille, 1804 30 Key to Pakistani species of Oxyopes Latreille 31 4.8.1.1 Oxyopesjavanus Thorell 31 4.8.1.2 Oxyopes ratnae Tikader 1970 31 4.9 Family Lycosidae Simon, 1898 32 Key to the Genera of Family Lycosidae Simon,1898 32 4.9.1 Genus Pardosa Koch, 1848 32 Key to the species of Genus Pardosa Koch, 1848 33 4.9.1.1 Pardosa pusiola Thorell, 1891 33 4.9.1.2 Pardosa birmanica Simon 33 4.9.1.3 Pardosa rhenockensis 34 ii 4.9.2 Genus Evippa Simon,1882 34 Key to Species of Genus EvippaSimon 35 4.9.2.1 Evipa sohani 35 4.9.3 Genus HipassaSimon, 1885 35 4.9.3.1 Hipassa partita (Cambridge) 1876 36 4.9.4 Genus Lycosa Latreille 1804 36 4.9.4.1 Lycosa poonaensis 36 4.9.4.2 Lycosa kempi Gravely, 1924 37 4.9.4.3 Lycosa madani Pocock, 1901 37 4.10 Family Uloboridae Thorell, 1869 38 4.10.1 Genus Uloborus Latreille, 1806 38 4.10.1.1 Uloborus danolius Tikader, 1969 38 4.11 Family Thomisidae Sundevall, 1833 39 Key to Pakistani Genera of Family Thomisidae 39 4.11.1 Genus Thomisus Walckenaer 1805 39 4.11.1.1 Thomisus dhakuriensis Tikader 40 Ecological Studies 47 α –Diversity Indices 47 6 Summary 58 7 Literature review 60 iii LIST OF TABLES NO. TITLE PAGE 1. Monthly meteorological data record from February-2013 to October. 2013 12 2. List of families along with genera and species recorded in each family 41 3. Number and abundance of species recorded from different habitats during the study period (February 2013- October 2013) 42 4. List of families along with number of genera and species 45 5. Simpson and Shannon Indices of the whole data 48 6. Monthly variation in Diversity indices 50 iv LIST OF FIGURES NO. TITLE PAGE 1. A Different areas of Bahawalpur 10 1. B Map of Pakistan 10 2. Map of Baghdad-ul-Jadeed Campus 11 3. Relative diversiry of different species of spiders 44 4. Families along with total number of Genera and species. 46 5. Month wise Richness values of Spiders 57 6. Month wise Richness values of Spiders 57 7. Species first time reported from Bahawalpur 77 v ABSTRACT This study was conducted todescribe the spider fauna of Bahawalpur. Spiders were collected and identified taxonomically. In the present study total 793 spiders were collected which belongs to 11 families, 15 genera and 26 species. The diversity of spiders recorded during February 2013 to October 2013 showed highest in June and lowest in February and July. The peak aboundance was recorded in family Lycosidae 35.93%, then in the familyOxyopidae 11.97%, Araneidae 10.46%, Pholsidae 9.83%, Clubionidae 8.32%, Sparrasidae 6.80%, Salticidae 6.05%, Thomisidae 4.03%, Hersilidae 3.02%, Uloboridae 1.76%, and Gnaphosidae 1.76%. From the present study it is concluded that Bahawalpur region is one of the zone where spiders have considerable prevalence. It is also concluded that abiotic factors such as temperature (ºC), rainfall (mm) and humidity (%) significantly influence prevalence of spiders. This is a limited attempt which hasbeen made to provide a preliminary work. Advance explorations on the subject will certainty expose much more species of spiders of the Bahawalpur. It is however, hoped that this study will be supportive to future researchers for better working in this attractive area of Araneae. vi CHAPTER.1 INTRODUCTION Order Araneae includes the major part of predatory fauna of agro-ecosystem of Pakistan (Mushtaq et al., 2000). Spiders belong to phylum Arthropoda (including more than 900,000 described species of insects); sub phylum Chelicerata; class Arachnida; order Araneae form the most predominant group of predaceous organism of kingdom Animalia (Richert and Lockley, 1984). Araneae is the 7th largest order in terms of species description. It includes 43,678 species, 3898 genera and 112 families (Platnick, 2013; Manju Siliwal et al., 2005). The most important characters of spiders are carapace, chelicerae,fangs, spinnerets for silk production, epigynum (female reproductive organ), breathing organs as trachea and book lungs (Nieuwenhuys, 2008).It is believed that evolution of spiders and insects is parallel (Karren, 2002). Spiders are found in different habitats, on grasses, forest floor, under stones, bark, logs, near water sources, underground caves, human habitation and mountainous area (Gajbe, 2004). Spiders are found both in fresh and marine water (Karren, 2002). The spider’s significance as biological control of pest is universal (Pearce et al., 2004). Spiders reduce prey densities in agricultural fields (Symondson et al., 2002; Pearce and Zalucki, 2006). Most abundant predators of agro ecosystem are spiders (Marc et al., 1999; Nyffeler and sunder land, 2003; Pearce and Zalucki, 2006). Most are polyphagous predators of insects (Schmidt et al., 2004; Takashi et al., 2006). Spiders are completely dependent on insects and arachnids and regulate the pest of different crops. Except two small families all spiders have poison glands and use their venom to kill the prey (Gajbe, 2004). Spider’s food is mostly consisting of soft bodied insects which have more body fluids. (Sandidaque, 2005; Rajeshwaram et al., 2005; Haunt et al., 2005; Bastawade and Khandal, 2006; Singh and Sihag, 2007).Spider’s population vary with the canopy cover and moisture level (Hore and Uniyal, 2008). Not only adult stages of Spiders are critical predators it also act as predator at egg, nymphal and larval stages for pests of crops (Harwood and Obrycki, 2006). Pesticides are used to kill these pests that are not only dangerous for human health but also kill non targeted species (Rana et al., 2010). Spiders are generalist predators and are more efficient in reducing prey densities (Richert, 1999; and Symondson et al., 2002). Many spiders’ species limit some specific prey populations due to their behavioral specializations (Malony et al., 2003). In Pakistan various studies on ecology, abundance and biodiversity of spiders on cotton, canola and maize were carried out by Ghafoor (2002); Saleem (1999) and Tahir 1 (2008). Pakistan is rich in spider fauna but no consolidated report on spider fauna of Pakistan exists. The pioneer work on taxonomy of spider’s fauna of Pakistan was done