REVIEW ZOOS' PRINT JOURNAL 20(10): 1999-2049 INDIAN SPIDERS (ARACHNIDA: ARANEAE): UPDATED CHECKLIST 2005 Manju Siliwal 1, Sanjay Molur 2,3 and B.K. Biswas 4 1,2 Wildlife Information & Liaison Development (WILD) Society, 3 Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO) 29-1, Bharathi Colony, Peelamedu, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641004, India 4 Zoological Survey of India, 'M' Block, New Alipore, Kolkata 700053, India Email: 1 [email protected]; 3 [email protected] ABSTRACT There have been attempts earlier to list the families and the This is the first attempt to update the list of spiders described number of genera under each, such as the one by Patil and formally in India. The list is compiled following Platnick's The Raghavendra (2001) on spiders of Western Ghats. The lists are World Spider Catalog. Extensive search of scientific peer- reviewed publications in the region revealed 40 new species, mostly based on Tikader's checklist. This present checklist is which are not included in Platnick's list. The checklist is an attempt to clarify and standardize spider fauna list in India. compared extensively with Tikader's list. In all, 1442 species of spiders in 59 families have been listed as described formally History of arachnological studies in India from India. Taxonomic verification is recommended for 51 Arachnological studies in India started in the late 19th Century species. Seventy-nine species listed by Tikader do not occur in India. Fifty-three species listed by Dyal and included in with pioneer taxonomists such as Blackwall (1864, 1867), Platnick's list do not occur in India. The paper lists Stoliczka (1869), Thorell (1877), Cambridge (1892, 1897), Simon replacement names, incertae sedis, nomina nuda, nomina (1897a,b), Pocock (1895, 1899a,b, 1900a,b, 1901), and Sherriffs dubia, transfers, synonyms, wrong taxonomic placements, (1919, 1927, 1928, 1929). These taxonomists mostly studied Dyal's species, etc. The checklist is updated up to 15 August preserved specimens. The first spider to be described from 2005. India was Sphasus lepidus Blackwall, 1864 [= Oxyopes lepidus KEYWORDS (Blackwall, 1864)] along with six other spiders (Blackwall, 1864). Arachnida, Araneae, checklist, India, Platnick, review, F.H. Gravely, assistant superintendent of the Government spiders, Tikader Museum in Madras studied spiders in the wild and was the first taxonomist to publish new descriptions in India. His major The current world list of spiders includes nearly 39,000 species work has been on Indian mygalomorphs, mainly the families in over 3600 genera in 110 families (Platnick, 2005: Version 6.0). Theraphosidae and Lycosidae (Gravely, 1915, 1921a,b, 1922, Tikader (1987) in his checklist of Indian spiders compiled a list 1931, 1935a,b). His studies in southern and northeastern India of 1067 species occurring in India. Much of his work was based revealed many new species to science, which are deposited at on published literature and post-independence collections of the Government Museum, Chennai and at the National Museum, the Zoological Survey of India expeditions to different regions. Kolkata. In the same year as Gravely’s first descriptions of His compilation is noteworthy since it provided spider workers spiders from the wild, Karam Narayan, Professor of Biology, St. in India and the neighbouring countries with an accessible John’s College, Agra, described seven new species and one checklist of Indian spiders. Further, Tikader also described subspecies of an ant-like spider (Attidae = Salticidae) from the quite a few species and thereby adding valuable information to Indian Museum Collection, Kolkata (Narayan, 1915). Another the wealth of Indian spider knowledge. After Tikader’s 1987 Indian, S. Dyal (1935) described 45 new species and compiled publication, much of the work carried out by Indian taxonomic notes on 76 species, all from Lahore, but since we arachnologists has been based on his work, including recent are restricting this checklist to the current political boundary of descriptions such as Bastawade (2002) based on Tikader’s India, Dyal’s spiders have been excluded from this list, although description of an allied species from Andaman Island. More many of them are likely to occur in India. Further studies recently, with an increase in spider taxonomy and the hard work confirming their presence on the Indian side is required. of Platnick and his group, the world checklist has provided a new dimension to our knowledge. Platnick's (2005) The World Major contributions to Indian arachnology were made by R.I. Spider Catalog has also provided good insights into Pocock and B.K. Tikader, who were responsible for bringing standardized approaches for understanding spider diversity spider studies to the notice of other researchers. R.I. Pocock, and taxonomy around the world. Although Platnick and his described 112 new species of spiders from India (Pocock, 1895, group are in the process of continuously revising the world 1899a,b, 1900a,b, 1901) before switching to studies of primate spider catalogue, it is up to regional and national spider taxonomy (Pocock, 1928). Many of Pocock’s species taxonomists / systematists to review and revise the existing descriptions have subsequently undergone taxonomic checklists. In this light we took up the task of compiling the revisions. His book in 1900 provided the first list of spiders, Indian spider checklist as part of a bigger task of compiling along with enumeration and new descriptions in British India, such a list for South Asia. We constantly refer to Tikader’s based on the spider specimens at the British Museum, London, work, and the changes shown in the current list are in reference which is widely referred by arachnologists of this region. to his 1987 publication. Pocock described 37 new large-bodied species of the suborder © Zoo Outreach Organisation; www.zoosprint.org Manuscript 1283; Received 09 November 2004; Revised received 20 May 2005; Finally accepted 24 August 2005; Date of publication 21 September 2005 October 2005 | ISSN 0973-2535 (Print edition); 0973-2551 (Online edition) 1999 Indian spiders 2005 checklist M. Siliwal et al. Orthognatha and its infraorder Mygalomorphae (Pocock, 1895, Table 1. Representation of the spider families in India (this 1899a,b, 1900a,b), following which Gravely (1915, 1921b, checklist) and the World (Platnick, 2005) 1935a,b), contributed by adding 15 new species to the existing Families India @ World * Date of list of Mygalomorphae. Identification of mygalomorphs is still # Gen. # Sp. # Gen. # Sp. updation $ based on the descriptions given by these authors. After the 1. Agelenidae 2 10 38 486 21.vii.05 last publication by Gravely in 1935, there have been very few 2. Amaurobiidae 2 4 69 640 21.vii.05 3. Anyphaenidae 1 1 56 508 26.v.05 new mygalomorph spiders reported from India. 4. Araneidae 27 147 167 2831 22.vii.05 5. Atypidae 1133324.x.04 Tikader streamlined and popularized spider studies in India 6. Barychelidae 4 5 44 300 17.v.05 7. Cithaeronidae 222619.xi.02 through his publications, a few of which included identification 8. Clubionidae 3 23 15 532 21.vii.05 keys along with species descriptions for all the genera belonging 9. Corinnidae 9 35 76 924 17.v.05 to six spider families, namely, the Lycosidae, Thomisidae, 10. Cryptothelidae # 1111021.xii.04 11. Ctenidae 2 14 39 455 08.iv.05 Araneidae, Gnaphosidae, Heteropodidae (now Sparassidae) and 12. Ctenizidae 1 1 9 120 19.v.05 Clubionidae (now included in several other families as well as 13. Deinopidae 1145724.xii.03 Clubionidae) (Tikader, 1980; Tikader & Malhotra, 1980; Tikader, 14. Desidae 1 2 38 180 26.vii.05 15. Dictynidae 8 11 48 559 21.vii.05 1982a,b; Sethi & Tikader, 1988; Majumder & Tikader, 1991). 16. Dipluridae 2 4 24 175 24.iii.05 Identification keys provided in these publications are still 17. Eresidae 1 4 10 102 21.vii.05 followed by Indian arachnologists. Tikader (1987) also 18. Filistatidae 3 10 16 109 13.ix.04 19. Gnaphosidae 28 134 115 1954 21.vii.05 published the first comprehensive list of Indian spiders, which 20. Hahniidae 3 4 26 235 21.vii.05 included 1067 species belonging to 249 genera in 43 families. 21. Hersiliidae 3 6 10 143 14.xii.04 22. Hexathelidae 1 1 11 85 20.xii.03 However, several changes have been proposed in the checklist 23. Homalonychidae # 111321.xii.04 including the correct placement of a few genera and species 24. Idiopidae 3 11 20 269 26.v.05 under different families, which are discussed in this paper. 25. Linyphiidae 15 24 569 4307 21.vii.05 26. Liocranidae 1 7 29 159 21.vii.05 Further, new species described and several taxonomic changes 27. Lycosidae 17 126 102 2304 21.vii.05 since Tikader’s publication are incorporated in this present 28. Mimetidae 2 3 12 155 7.ii.05 checklist, which is updated through 15 August 2005. 29. Miturgidae 3 29 26 351 21.vii.05 30. Mysmenidae 1 1 22 91 06.v.05 31. Nemesiidae 1 3 38 329 21.vii.05 The paper provides current valid scientific names of Indian 32. Ochyroceratidae 1 1 13 146 21.xii.03 spiders and is primarily based on The World Spider Catalog 33. Oecobiidae 2 5 6 101 11.xi.04 34. Oonopidae 4 13 67 459 09.ii.05 (Platnick, 2005: Version 6.0). The latest additions that are not 35. Oxyopidae 4 65 9 417 22.vii.05 reflected in the catalog are also given here. The checklist 36. Palpimanidae 2 3 15 127 08.vi.04 includes all the recently described species from India published 37. Philodromidae 7 43 29 516 21.vii.05 38. Pholcidae 4 6 76 874 21.vii.05 in peer-reviewed journals. New descriptions in masters and 39. Pimoidae 1322417.xi.04 doctoral theses, and in proceedings are not included in this 40.