1 SANSA NEWS South African National Survey of Arachnida Newsletter Date No 28 JAN APRIL 2017 FEEDBACK ON THE Inside this issue: 12 AFRAS COLLOQUIUM Feedback AFRAS colloquium …..1-2 22-25 January 2017 SANSA 20 years ………...................3 Medically important spiders..……….4 Spiders in and around the house…..5 University of the Free State…………6 University of Venda………………….7 ARC-PPR………...………………......8 National Mus of the Free State …….9 New genera…………………..……..10 Field observations Q and A…........ 11 Student project……………………...12 Soil paper…………………………...13 Recent publications……………......14 Last Word……………………….......15 NATIONAL SPIDER SPECIES COUNT JANUARY 2015 — 2171 species JUNE 2015 — 2192 species OCTOBER 2015 — 2220 species MAY 2016 — 2234 species DECEMBER 2016 — 2239 species APRIL 2017 — 2243 species Delegates at the colloquium The 12th AFRAS colloquium was hosted by the University of the Free State and the ARC. It was held at the Goudini Spa in the Worcester district, Western Cape, South Africa. The objectives of these Colloquia are to promote research on the African Arachnida (non-Acari) and to provide a fo- rum for the discussion of research on African arachnids in oral presentations, posters and work- Editors and coordinators: shops, as well as informal discussions. Ansie Dippenaar-Schoeman & A total of 40 delegates and five accompanying persons attended the colloquium, from as far afield Robin Lyle as Belgium, Israel, Russia, Czech Republic, Nigeria, Sudan, Zimbabwe, UK and USA. ARC-Plant Protection Research Private Bag X134 37 papers and 17 posters were presented during the colloquium Queenswood 0121 Two workshops were held, organized by Dr Ansie Dippenaar-Schoeman on the South African South Africa National Survey of Arachnida (SANSA), and by Dr Gerbus Muller on medically important spiders E-mail: [email protected] We also celebrated the 20th year of SANSA and 30th year of AFRAS. Charles Haddad Department of Zoology & Entomology University of the Free State P.O. Box 339 Bloemfontein 9300 South Africa E-mail: [email protected] 2 THE 12th AFRAS COLLOQUIUM FEEDBACK POSTER AND PAPER AWARDS Best student poster: Gary Edwards (Ammoxenus) Runner-up: Liezl Whitehead (grass tussocks) Best poster: John Midgley (Ceratogyrus) Runner-up: Reginald Christiaan (Namaqua National Park) Best student presentation: Pavel Just (Geogarypidae) Runner-up: James Lichtenstein (Stegodyphus) Best presentation: Tharina Bird (Solifugae) Runner-up: Jonathan Pruitt (Stegodyphus) Robin Lyle, Charles Haddad and Tharina Bird PHOTOGRAPHIC AWARDS Best non-spider arachnid photo: Ruan Booysen (Scorpion) Best spider action photo: Norman Larsen (diving Zodariidae) Best spider portrait photo: Leon Lotz (Eresidae) CATCH OF THE DAY Yuri Marusik Robin Lyle, Charles Haddad and Ruan Booysen OTHER AFRAS AWARDS LAWRENCE LIFETIME AWARD BEST CONTRIBUTION AWARD LAST 3 YEARS AFRAS NEWS SNIPPETS Stefan Foord is the new AFRAS chairman The next AFRAS colloqui- um, to be held at a venue in the Limpopo Province, will be organized by University of Venda and the ARC. See abstracts on the AFRAS website at http:// afras.ufs.ac.za Prof Stefan Foord of the University of Venda Dr Leon Lotz of the National Museum in received the award for the best contribution to Afri- Bloemfontein received the Lawrence award at can Arachnology over the last three years (2015- the Colloquium for his dedication to African 2017). This is for his long-term survey research and arachnids over the past 30 years. Leon is participation in the SPACES programme (see page retiring during 2017. 7). Stefan is also the new Chairman of AFRAS. 3 COLLOQUIUM FEEDBACK SANSA IS 20 YEARS OLD The South African National Survey of Arachnida (SANSA) was initiated in 1997, with the main aim of documenting the arachnid fauna of South Africa at a national level. This 20- year inventory and conservation assessment project are dedicated to unify and strengthen biodiversity research on spiders and other arachnids of South Africa. SANSA’s aims are multiple, and include the collation of data to determine the distribution ranges of species in South Africa in order to assess their Red List status, using the IUCN criteria. What have we done Presently 71 spider families, 471 genera and 2243 species are known from South Afri- ca. The first Spider Atlas, containing information on 2003 species, with maps showing their distribution, is available on the SANSA website. An updated National species list is in preparation. The first Red Listing project to determine the conservation status of spiders is under- way. Results so far indicate that 61% are endemic to the country, with >400 species having a restricted distribution, and are known only from a few localities in South Africa. In South Africa, Salticidae is the most diverse family with 345 spp., followed by the Gnaphosidae with 175 spp. and Thomisidae with 143 spp. Since the start of SANSA 38 revisions were undertaken and a total of 571 new species were discovered and described, with another 50 that are in the process of being de- scribed. Distribution ranges of more than 300 species known from the rest of Africa were ex- tended to include South Africa. Information on habitat requirements showed that the Savanna Biome is the most di- verse, with 1230 species from 62 families, followed by the Fynbos Biome, with 1014 species from 67 families. Thus far, 51 families with 238 genera and 413 species have been recorded from crops in South Africa. At present >192 protected areas are or have been surveyed in South Africa, ranging from biosphere reserves, national parks, reserves, state forests, RAMSAR sites, to con- servancies Provincial diversity is highest in KwaZulu-Natal, with 1122 spp. from 63 families, fol- lowed by the Western Cape with 966 spp. from 68 families, and Limpopo, with 928 spp. from 62 families. A total of 2500 Virtual Museum entries were made. The number of specimens identified during the last 20 years: >61 202 spider entries. The number of specimens in NCA database: about 70 000. Awareness activities include: talks, newsletters (26), factsheets, website, colloquia, training courses etc. Products produced: handbooks (9) and posters (5) Conference presentations: international: 18; local congresses: 24. Student projects and degrees> 27. Participation in National projects; NRF Thuthuka projects; NRF; Foundational Biodiver- sity Information Programme (FBIP): Karoo BioGaps Project; Fragmentation on the fau- nal diversity of Eastern Cape Forests; Species pages for the Encyclopedia of Life pro- ject. Contributed towards the National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA) and Western Cape Biodiversity Spatial Plan (WCBSP). Why is SANSA a success? SANSA provides a national umbrella to work under; a national focus helps in funding pro- posals; sharing of infrastructure; providing taxonomic support for students; collation of data into one database; making a wealth of information available to end users and the scientific community. SANSA activities 4 Colloquium Workshop: Cytotoxic spider bite (necrotic arachnidism): facts and fallacies, spider identification, clinical manifestations, differential diagnosis and management G.J. Muller1, C.J. Marks1, C.E. du Plessis1, C.A. Wium1, A.S. Dippenaar-Schoeman2 & L.N. Lotz3 1 Tygerberg Poison Information Centre, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Scienc- es, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg Campus, South Africa, [email protected]; 2 ARC-Plant Protection Research, Private Bag X134, Queenswood 0121, South Africa/Department of Zoology & Entomology, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20 Hatfield 0028, South Africa, [email protected]; [email protected] 3 Department of Arachnology, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa, arach- [email protected] MOTIVATION: The medical entity cytotoxic spider bite has recently come TYGERBERG POISON INFORMATION CENTRE TEAM under intense scrutiny. Many lay people believe that bites from various spi- der species cause necrotic skin ulceration despite medical evidence that most suspected cases are probably caused by something else rather than a spider bite. Spiders suspected of causing necrotic skin lesions in southern Africa include the genera Cheiracanthium (Eutichuridae), Loxosceles (Sicariidae) and Sicarius (Sicariidae). In addition, some large spiders, alt- hough not strictly cytotoxic e.g. the baboon spiders (family Theraphosidae) and the rain spiders (genus Palystes), can inflict local wounds that may be- come infected. TYGERBERG POISON INFORMATION CENTRE DATA ON SPIDER BITE: Results of documentation over a period of 4 years. From a total of 25 510 telephone consultations (January 2010 – December 2013) 661 were related to suspected spider bites. Of these 72% was from the general public and 28% form medical disciplines. A spider was seen in 225 cases and of Gerbus Muller (retired) Carine Marks these 67 could be identified. 31 of the spiders identified belonged to the button spiders (Latrodectus spp.), 9 rain spiders (genus Palystes), 8 baboon spiders (family Theraphosidae), 5 violin spiders (genus Loxosceles) and 3 sac spiders (genus Cheiracanthium). The rest (11) included a wide range of non-venomous spiders. CLINICAL PICTURE: Necrotic arachnidism is the clinical syndrome caused by the bite of cytotoxic spiders. In the majority of cases diagnosis is based solely on clinical findings. The diagnosis of necrotic arachnidism is usually presumptive and made through epidemiological information and evolution of the clinical picture as few