Nieuwsbrief SPINED 37 5 INVENTORY OF THE SPIDERS (ARANEAE) OF THE BORDER REGION OF NORTHERN GREECE WITH ALBANIA AND FYR MACEDONIA Peter J. van Helsdingen Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, Leiden, Netherlands ([email protected]) & Steven IJland Gabriël Metzustraat 1, 2316 AJ, Leiden, Netherlands ([email protected]) & Marjan Komnenov Blvd. Kuzman Josifovski Pitu, 19/5/3, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia ([email protected]) ABSTRACT In May 2016 an inventory of the spider fauna was carried out in the border region of Greece, Albania and Macedonia. In the course of two weeks 33 sites were visited and sampled, resulting in 244 species of 31 families amongst which 25 species recorded for Greece for the first time (Comaroma simoni Bertkau, 1889, Araneus triguttatus (Fabricius, 1775), Araniella displicata (Hentz, 1847), Cyclosa oculata (Walckenaer, 1802), Gibbaranea ullrichi (Hahn, 1835), Clubiona marmorata L. Koch, 1866, Clubiona subtilis L. Koch, 1867, Cicurina cicur (Fabricius, 1793), Leptodrassex memorialis (Spassky, 1940), Centromerus lakatnikensis (Drensky, 1931), Kratochviliella bicapitata Miller, 1938, Sintula corniger (Blackwall, 1856), Tenuiphantes flavipes (Blackwall, 1854), Theonina kratochvili Miller & Weiss, 1979, Trichoncus saxicola (O. P.-Cambridge, 1861), Walckenaeria acuminata Blackwall, 1833, Walckenaeria cucullata (C.L. Koch, 1836), Walckenaeria nudipalpis (Westring, 1851), Alopecosa taeniata (C.L. Koch, 1835), Zora manicata Simon, 1878, Evarcha michailovi Logunov, 1992, Dipoena braccata (C.L. Koch, 1841), Robertus frivaldszkyi (Chyzer, 1894), Theridion betteni Wiehle, 1960, Heriaeus zhalosni Komnenov, 2017). The females of two species are described for the first time: Nomisia levyi Chatzaki, 2010 and Erigonoplus simplex Millidge, 1979. The earlier suggestion of the synonymy of Pardosa tatarica with Pardosa atomaria is repeated. Theridion betteni Wiehle, 1960 is reported as new for Albania. Key words: new country record Albania, new country records Greece INTRODUCTION In May 2016 a fieldtrip to northern Greece was organized in order to inventorize the spider fauna of the border region of Greece with Albania and FYR Macedonia. A modest attempt to help to contribute to the knowledge of the fauna of Greece. In 2014 we had made a short collecting trip to southern Albania in collaboration with Blerina Vrenozi of the University of Tirana. The border region of Greece with Albania is a logic continuation of a regional inventory of this part of the Balkan. This time we were happy to include in our small team Marjan Komnenov from Skopje, FYR Macedonia, a well-known expert of the Balkan spider fauna and experienced collector. This paper deals with the material collected by the three authors and in fact is the first part of the results of our collecting trip. Of the material collected by Marjan Komnenov only a modest part could be identified so far. The second part hopefully will be published in due course by Marjan Komnenov when his work allows of dealing with all the material collected by him. Since his collecting focusses on sieving more than we do his later contribution very likely will contain additional species. SITES VISITED The usual collecting techniques such as beating, sweeping, and hand-collecting were used on most sites and are not repeated under the descriptions of each site unless only one technique was used. The missing numbers in the list refer to sites inventorized by Marjan Komnenov and not by the two other authors and will be filled in when his contribution will be published. On many of the sites listed here he collected as well, mostly by sieving as mentioned above. The numbers are plotted on the map presented here (fig. 1). The geographic positions are in WGS84. 1. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); ca 4.4 km NNW of Kastoria (Καστοριά);, 8.v.2016; 40°33.34', 021°14.79'; pine forest on steep slopes, 850 m a.s.l. 2. – Kastoria (Καστοριά);; 5.5-6 km NW of Kastoria (Καστοριά), 8.v.2016; 40°33.44', 021°13.68'; Juniperus and Pinus forest and grassland below, 1004 m a.s.l. 6 Nieuwsbrief SPINED 37 Fig. 1. Map of the explored area in border region in northern Greece. 4. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); 1 km NW of Kolokynthou (Κολοκυνθού), near Aliakmonas River (Αλιάκμονας Ποταμός), 9.v.2016; 40°29.94', 021°12.20'; grassland near bank of river, 658 m a.s.l. 5. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); 2.5 km N of Kalochori (Καλοχώρι), near Aliakmonas River (Αλιάκμονας Ποταμός), 9.v.2016; 40°27.78', 021°07.92'; mixed forest near bank of river, 712 m a.s.l. 6. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); 0.6 km SSW of Kato Nestoria (Κάτω Νεστόριο), near Aliakmonas River (Αλιάκμονας Ποταμός), 9.v.2016; 40°24.30', 021°03.69'; parkland with walnut (Juglans regia), 793 m a.s.l. 7A. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); 1.1 km ESE of Koromilia (Κορομηλιά), 10.v.2016; 40°32.28', 021°10.13'; grassland on south slope, 734 m a.s.l. 7B. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); 1.3 km ESE of Koromilia (Κορομηλιά), 10.v.2016; 40°32.29', 021°10.04'; mixed forest dominated by Populus alba, 739 m; sieving a.s.l.. 9. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); ca 1.7 km NW of Gavros (Γάβρος), 10.v.2016; 40°38.41', 021°10.69'; grassland at bottom of slope with oak trees, 833 m a.s.l. 10. – Florina (Φλώρινα); ca 1.9 km WNW of Pisoderi (Πισοδέρι), 10.v.2016; 40°47.35', 021°13.51'; beech forest alongside road near little stream, 1328 m a.s.l. 11. – Florina (Φλώρινα), Chimadi (Χειμάδι); 3.2 km WNW of Olympiada (Ολυμπιάδα), Lake Chimatitida, 11.v.2016; 40°34.70', 021°33.81'; grasslands and reeds near lake, 592 m a.s.l. 14. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); Lake Kastoria, Kastoria Peninsula, 12.v.2016; 40°30.88', 021°16.92'; 40°31.60', 021°16.62'; road along lake, 635 m a.s.l. 15. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); Lake Kastoria, Kastoria Peninsula, 0.3 km SSW of summit, 12.v.2016; 40°30.88', 021°16.92'; limestone with shrubs and trees, 840 m a.s.l. 16. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); ca 3 km ENE of Pefkos (Πεύκος), 13.v.2016; 40°24.19', 020°59.09'; forest margin; 912 m a.s.l. 17. –Kastoria (Καστοριά), Nestorio (Νεστόριο); 0.5 km E of Gramos (Γράμος), 13.v.2016; 40°23.75', 020°50.15'; high mountain pasture; 1371 m a.s.l. 18. – Kastoria (Καστοριά), Nestorio (Νεστόριο); 2.6 km E of Gramos (Γράμος), 13.v.2016; 40°24.40', 020°51.56'; margin of pine forest, 1386 m a.s.l. 19. – Kastoria (Καστοριά), Nestorio (Νεστόριο); ca 4 km NE of Gramos (Γράμος), 13.v.2016; 40°24.76', 020°52.41'; mixed forest (Acer, Corylus, Pinus), 1157 m a.s.l. 20. – Florina (Φλώρινα), Prespes (Πρέσπες); ca 1.7 km NNE of Krystallopigi (Κρυσταλλοπηγή), 15.v.2016; 40°38.98', 021°05.76'; grassland near mixed forest margin, 1037 m a.s.l. 21. – Florina (Φλώρινα), Prespes (Πρέσπες); ca 0.7 km E of Vatochori (Βατοχώρι), 15.v.2016; 40°39.92', 021°09.17'; mixed forest dominated by Quercus, 974 m a.s.l. Nieuwsbrief SPINED 37 7 22. – Florina (Φλώρινα), Prespes (Πρέσπες); ca 2.1 km E of Trigono (Τρίγωνο), road to Mikrolimni (Μικρολίμνη), 16.v.2016; 40°44.52', 021°10.79'; path through forest (Quercus, Pinus), 1317 m a.s.l. 23. – Florina (Φλώρινα), Prespes (Πρέσπες); Mikrolimni (Μικρολίμνη) (Mikri Prespa Lake), road Trigono-Trespa, 16.v.2016; 40°44.61', 021°06.71'; grasslands and reeds near lake, 835 m a.s.l. 24. – Florina (Φλώρινα), Prespes (Πρέσπες); Antartiko (Αντάρτικο); E side of road, 16.v.2016; 40°46.14', 021°12.78'; steep slope, mixed forest (Fagus, Quercus), 1168 m a.s.l. 25. – Kastoria (Καστοριά), Nestorio (Νεστόριο); Pefkos; 0.6 km ENE of Pefkos (Πεύκος), 17.v.2016; 40°23.52', 020°57.63'; grassland, 1014 m a.s.l. 26. – Kastoria (Καστοριά), Nestorio (Νεστόριο); Pefkos, ca 3.2 km SW of Pefkos (Πεύκος), 17.v.2016; 40°22.04', 020°55.71'; beech forest, 1215 m a.s.l. 27. – Kastoria (Καστοριά), Nestorio (Νεστόριο); Pefkos, ca 3.2 km WSW of Pefkos (Πεύκος), 17.v.2016; 40°22.52', 020°55.30'; beech forest, 1250 m a.s.l. 28. – Kastoria (Καστοριά), Nestorio (Νεστόριο); ca 1.5 km NW of Kotili (Κοτύλη), 18.v.2016; 40°19.01', 021°00.39'; mixed forest (sifted) and near stream (hand collecting), 1150 m a.s.l. 29. – Kastoria (Καστοριά), Nestorio (Νεστόριο); ca 1.9 km ESE of Eptachori (Επταχώρι), 18.v.2016; 40°13.05', 021°02.59'; steep slope with mixed forest (Acer, Pinus), 1113 m a.s.l. 30. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); Kleisoura (Κλεισώρεια), 19.v.2016; 40°32.86', 021°27.92'; grass slope below beech forest, 1104 m a.s.l. 31. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); ca 840m E of Kleisoura (Κλεισώρεια), slope along road, 19.v.2016; 40°32.19', 021°28.74'; mixed forest (Acer, Corylus, Pinus), 982 m a.s.l. 32. – Kozani (Κοζάνη), Eordaia (Εορδαία); ca 950 m W of Emporio (Εμπόριο), 19.v.2016; 40°29.28', 021°32.82'; grazed slope with stones, trees and shrubs at margin, 815 m a.s.l. 33. – Kastoria (Καστοριά); 0.9 km S of Maniaki (Μανιάκι), 20.v.2016; 40°29.70', 021°14.42; grazed grassland on slope with stones, 665 m a.s.l. LIST OF COLLECTED SPECIES When few specimens were collected – usually only from one site – the exact number is mentioned. For more common and more frequently collected species the number of specimens is not really relevant and we use ♂♂♀♀, which means a larger number of specimens. Collectors are mentioned by their initials, PvH, SIJ, and MK for, respectively, Peter van Helsdingen, Steven IJland, and Marjan Komnenov.