Egypt. J. Plant Prot. Res. Inst. (2021), 4 (2): 275–289 Egyptian Journal of Plant Protection Research Institute www.ejppri.eg.net Seasonal abundance of true spiders inhabiting perennial shrubs and evergreen herbs Manal, S. Ismail; Nadia, H. Habashy; Aida, K.F. Iskandar; Marguerite, A. Rizk and Mona, M.A. Ghallab Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt. ARTICLE INFO Abstract: Article History The present study was directed towards the habitat of various Received:21 /4 /2021 true spider species inhabiting different ornamental plants. A one- Accepted:28 / 6 /2021 year study was conducted in the Orman garden; two groups of plants were selected, three evergreen herbs and three perennial shrubs. The Keywords results revealed that the evergreen herbs received a total of 261 individuals belonged to 21 genera, 25 species of 10 families, while Araneae, diversity the perennial shrubs received a total of 255 individuals belonged to indices, foraging guild, 20 genera, 23 species of 10 families. Guild structure analysis habitat structure, revealed eight feeding guilds, the active hunting guild (Ambushers) herbs, Orman garden, comprised the largest portion (50.2 and 58.2%) followed by the similarity, shrubs and stalkers guild (22.7 and 16.1%) then space weavers (14.5 and 17.2%) Sørensen Quotient. of perennial shrubs and evergreen herbs, respectively. Moreover, a survey over different ornamental plants revealed a total of 178 spiders grouped in 13 families belonging to 28 genera and 35 species collected from thirty ornamental plants. Five families contained 93.1% of the total collected spiders; they are Philodromidae, Salticidae, Theridiidae, Thomisidae and Cheiracanthiidae. The results indicated that the interaction of different communities of spider abundance and species richness depends on the type of plant dense vegetation, shade, and humidity; so, a slight difference was observed between the two categories located in the same location. Introduction As the spiders were broadly The landscape of the Orman garden is distributed in high numbers, associated with often characterized by a wide range of the food web, they are used as virtuous diverse flowering plants comprising native predictor organisms (Wise, 1995; Willett, and exotic plants. The spider diversity is 2001 and Foelix, 2011). The abundance affected by the different vegetation structure and/or composition of spider species were of plants; habitat structure is an important investigated in different agro-ecosystems factor that influences the diversity, (Carroll and Hoyt, 1984 and Wisniewska and abundance and distribution of spider species Prokopy, 1997). In Egypt, the abundance and (Evans, 1997 and Whitmore et al., 2002). occurrence of spiders in different vegetation types and habitats were studied in different 275 Ismail et al. , 2021 Governorates (Ghallab, 2012 and Obuid- and some droplets of glycerine and examined Allah et al., 2015). In addition, Hassan et al under a stereo-zoom microscope in the (2016) assessed the effect of different laboratory. vegetation in public parks on the seasonal 2. Identification of spiders: spider populations. Zaki et al. (2020) also The adult spiders were identified, as studied the biodiversity of spiders concerning possible, to species. The scientific names of different vegetation structures. Few studies spiders and their classification follow have compared the spider distribution in different specialized description keys. different categories of plants such as 3. Data analysis: evergreen herbs, perennial shrubs, 3.1. Spider community: The succulents, vines, hedges, palms and trees. Shannon-Wiener Index "H’" is one of the The present study aims to focus on the most common ecological indexes; it may variation in spider's community inhabiting indicate of community stability under the three evergreen herbs and three perennial balance of nature. A higher number of H' shrubs of different ecological values. indicates a higher number of species, so, it Concerning the relative abundance, species means an increase in diversity. While richness, guild composition, Shannon- Simpson Index "S" is a measure of Wiener index (H’), Simpson index (S), and dominance (Nestle et al., 1993). evenness (e) to quantify the community The two indices were calculated as described structures of spiders among three categories by Ludwig and Reynolds (1988): of different vegetation types. H' = -∑ (ni / n) ln (ni/ n) and S = ∑ 2 Materials and methods (ni/n) 1. Description of the study area and Where ni is the number of individuals sampling: belonging to the ith of "S" taxa in the sample The Orman garden consists of highly and "n" is the total number of individuals in fertile cultivated land covered with numerous the sample." ornamental plants. Two categories of 3.2. Sørensen quotient of similarity: ornamental plants were selected. The first To compare the guild composition between group consists of three evergreen herbs microhabitats of the two categories of the namely, Ruscus aculeatus L., Pelargonium ornamental plants (evergreen herbs & zonal (Hẻrtier) and Ocimum basilicum L., perennial shrubs), Sørensen's quotient of and the second group of three perennial similarity (QS) (Sørensen, 1948) was applied shrubs namely, Plumbago auriculata Lam., to the number of species and individuals of Acalypha hoffmannii Müll and Dodonaea the two group plants. It was used to determine viscosa Jacq. Moreover, a survey of the the similarities of spider species composition spider community composition and diversity among the communities. Sørensen's original associated with different vegetation foliage formula was intended to be applied to was carried out. presence/absence data, and it is: The arboreal spiders live on foliage QS = 2 C / A + B. were collected by shaking plants on a Where A and B are the number of species in sweeping net with a mesh bag. Samples were samples A and B, respectively, and C is the collected periodically every two weeks from number of species shared by the two samples; the different host plants for a one-year study QS is the quotient of similarity and ranges extended from January 2020 till the end of from 0-1. December 2020. Collected spiders were kept 3.3. Guild composition: The spiders in glass vials containing 70% ethyl alcohol collected were separate into eight guilds 276 Egypt. J. Plant Prot. Res. Inst. (2021), 4 (2): 275–289 according to spider’s web-building and prey- showed their abundance numbers and catching behaviour as described by Uetz et al. percentage. A total of 261 spiders was (1999). collected, they could be classified into 10 Results and discussion families, 21 genera and 25 species. Among In the present investigation, the total the collected spiders, the most abundant number of spiders collected was 694 families were Philodromidae represented individuals forming at least 42 species 66.2, 35.9 and 31.2% in Ruscus, Pelargonium belonging to 33 genera that fall into 15 and Ocimum herbs, respectively, followed by families. Theridiidae 28.2% collected from 1. Survey of spiders inhabiting three Pelargonium then Salticidae 22.1% from perennial shrubs: Ocimum then Thomisidae 20.8% and Table (1) showed the abundance Theridiidae 18.2% collected from Ocimum. numbers and percentage of spiders inhabiting The abundance of adults was the highest in three ornamental shrubs, P. auriculate, Ruscus (19 ♂: 17 ♀) followed by Ocimum Acalypha wilkesiana hoffmannii Müll (13 ♂: 22 ♀) and the lowest recorded in (Twisting green acalypha) and D. viscosa Pelargonium (8 ♂: 5 ♀), while juvenile (Green dodonaea) shrubs. A list of identified stages were abundant in Ruscus recorded 109 collected spiders was presented, a total of 255 and those collected from Pelargonium and spiders were collected; they belonged to 10 Ocimum herbs recorded 26 and 42 juvenile, families, 20 genera and 23 species. Among respectively. the collected spiders, the most abundant The most dominant species were P. families were Philodromidae represented glaucinus (115 individuals), Kochiura aulica 39.3 and 65.6% in Plumbago and Dodonaea (Koch) (19 individuals) T. melanostictum (15 shrubs, respectively, followed by Salticidae individuals), T. imperialis (14 individuals), 34.8 and 22.8% in Acalypha and Plumbago, Plexippus paykulli (Audouin) (13 respectively, then Cheiracanthiidae 30.4% individuals), then T. spinifer (13 individuals). and Theridiidae 19.6 % collected from Acalypha. The abundance of adults was the highest in Plumbago (38 ♂: 27 ♀) and the lowest recorded in Dodonaea (4 ♂: 6 ♀), while juvenile stages were more abundant in Plumbago than Acalypha and Dodonaea recorded 80, 30 and 54 juvenile, respectively. Of the most abundant species, 5 ranked in the top, Pulchellodromus glaucinus (Simon) (89 individuals), Cheiracanthium isiacum O.P. (25 individuals), Thomisus spinifer (Sundevall) (24 individuals), Theridion melanostictum O. P. (24 individuals), Thyene imperialis (Rossi). (22 individuals). 2. Survey of spiders inhabiting three evergreen herbs: Table (2) listed the identified collected spiders inhabiting three herbs, R. aculeatus, P. zonal and O. basilicum and 277 Ismail et al. , 2021 Table (1): Spiders inhabiting three different perennial shrubs during a one-year study in Orman garden. Family names & species Plumbago ∑ Twisted Acalypha Dodonaea % ∑ % ∑ % Total % ♂ ♀ J ♂ ♀ J ♂ ♀ J Philodromidae 89 Pulchellodromus glaucinus (Simon) 1+4s♂ 7+2s♀ 35 1 2 1 36 39.3 3 6.5 42 65.6 10 40 Philodromus blankei 1s♂ 1 4 57 4 3 Thanatus sp. 1 1 1 Salticidae (spiderling) 3 3 Thyene imperialis Rossi 3+1s♂ 2 5 1 2 1s♂ 1 6 22 Thyene sp. 1 1 33 Plexippus paykulli Audouin 1 5 22.8 1s♂ 1 11 16 8 12.5 19 22.3 34.8 Bianor sp. 1+1s♂ 3 2 7 Heliophanus sp. 2s♂ 1 1 4 Hasarius adansoni Audouin 1 1 Cheiracunthiidae 4.8 14 30.4 4 6.3 9.8 Cheiracunthium isiacum O.P. 7 7 1s♂ 1 12 4 25 Theridiidae Theridion melanostictum O.P. 3 4 8 2+1s♂ 2 1 1+1s♀ 1 24 Theridion sp. ?? 14.5 9 19.6 1s♂ 6 9.4 1 14.1 21 Kochiura aulica Koch 2s♂ 2 2s♂ 2 1 9 Euryopis episinoides Walckenaer 1s♂ 1 2 Araneidae Neoscona sp.