This article was downloaded by: [Guerrero, José Carlos] On: 8 June 2011 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 938474753] Publisher Taylor & Francis Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37- 41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Natural History Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713192031 Introduction, distribution and habitats of the invasive spider Badumna longinqua (L. Koch, 1867) (Araneae: Desidae) in Uruguay, with notes on its world dispersion Miguel Simóab; Álvaro Labordaab; Carolina Jorgeab; José Carlos Guerrerocd; Marcelo Alves Diasa; Manuel Castroab a Sección Entomología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, CP 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay b Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, 25 de Mayo 582, CP 11000, Montevideo, Uruguay c Laboratorio de Desarrollo Sustentable y Gestión Ambiental del Territorio, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, CP 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay d Grupo Biogeografía, Diversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos s/n, CP 29071, Málaga, Spain Online publication date: 08 June 2011 To cite this Article Simó, Miguel , Laborda, Álvaro , Jorge, Carolina , Carlos Guerrero, José , Alves Dias, Marcelo and Castro, Manuel(2011) 'Introduction, distribution and habitats of the invasive spider Badumna longinqua (L. Koch, 1867) (Araneae: Desidae) in Uruguay, with notes on its world dispersion', Journal of Natural History, 45: 27, 1637 — 1648 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2011.559599 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2011.559599 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Journal of Natural History Vol. 45, Nos. 27–28, July 2011, 1637–1648 Introduction, distribution and habitats of the invasive spider Badumna longinqua (L. Koch, 1867) (Araneae: Desidae) in Uruguay, with notes on its world dispersion Miguel Simóa,b∗, Álvaro Labordaa,b, Carolina Jorgea,b, José Carlos Guerreroc,d, Marcelo Alves Diasa and Manuel Castroa,b aSección Entomología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, CP 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay; bMuseo Nacional de Historia Natural, 25 de Mayo 582, CP 11000 Montevideo, Uruguay; cLaboratorio de Desarrollo Sustentable y Gestión Ambiental del Territorio, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, CP 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay; d Grupo Biogeografía, Diversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos s/n, CP 29071 Málaga, Spain (Received 22 September 2010; final version received 29 January 2011; printed 12 May 2011) In Uruguay, Badumna longinqua is an invasive species arising from Australia. Phoresy by human activities and strong adaptation to synantropic sites have been the main factors that have contributed to the dispersal of this species to other countries. In this study, we analysed the dispersion of B. longinqua in Uruguay using voucher specimens deposited in Uruguayan arachnological collections and new field captures. A logistic regression was performed to evaluate the relation- ship of this species with the studied habitats. We found individuals of B. longinqua associated with many different synantropic sites, such as the bark of Eucalyptus spp. trees situated in parks, avenues and commercial plantations. As this crop is being extensively planted for the production of bleached hardwood pulp for paper production in Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and others countries, we postulate the probable expansion of B. longinqua to other parts of South America. Keywords: Badumna longinqua; Uruguay; invasive spider; habitat selection Introduction Downloaded By: [Guerrero, José Carlos] At: 21:25 8 June 2011 Badumna longinqua (L. Koch 1867) is a medium-sized spider (body length: males 8–12 mm, females 10–13 mm) belonging to the family Desidae. This species was orig- inally distributed in Australia (currently throughout the south and east of Australia and Tasmania), but was later introduced to New Zealand, Japan and the New World (Main 2001; Platnick 2010). It is commonly named the “grey house spider” because of its dark brown carapace and legs, with a brown and grey abdomen that shows a dor- sal pattern of white hairs and spots. It builds cribellate sticky space webs or lace-like sheet webs that extend from a tubular retreat (Whitehouse 1988; Main 2001). It can be found associated with tree trunks, rock walls and is very common in synantropic habi- tats, such as window frames, wall crevices, inside or outside houses, and in urban parks. In USA this species has been reported from rural woodlands to beachfront boulders (Shorthouse 2010) and was recently observed in vineyard plantations (Hogg et al. *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] ISSN 0022-2933 print/ISSN 1464-5262 online © 2011 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2011.559599 http://www.informaworld.com 1638 M. Simó et al. 2009). Females build white egg sacs and males perform mate guarding to penultimate females (Costa 1993). The venom of this spider can produce necrotic lesions of the skin (Pincus et al. 1999). Other sources consider that species of Badumna are unlikely to cause necrosis and reported as common effects: pain, puncture marks, swelling and erythemas (Isbister and Gray 2004; Vetter and Isbister 2008). Main (2001) indicated that changes in the natural landscapes of Australia after European settlement since the eighteenth century could benefit some Australian spi- der species, such as B. longinqua, which became synantropic and expanded its original distribution ranges. Main (2001) also considered that this species is readily carried around by inert phoresy on vehicles and merchandise, where they build their webs. The first report for New Zealand was during the twentieth century, introduced from Australia (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 2002). In the New World, the species was reported in California and Oregon, USA (Shorthouse 2010) and southern locali- ties of Uruguay (Costa 1993; Capocasale and Pereira 2003). No records of this species have been published for other South American countries (Platnick 2010). During the 1960s, the trade and human migration between Australia and Uruguay increased (Petruccelli 1998). The first record of this spider from Montevideo is dated during this period (Capocasale and Pereira 2003). Additional records revealed speci- mens that were collected from urban parks and houses, mainly in Montevideo. More recent records are from Eucalyptus plantations and additional localities in Uruguay. Considering the great development of Eucalyptus forestation during the last three decades in Uruguay and the great ability for habitat invasion of this spider species, the main objectives of this paper were to provide new records of the species and to analyse the habitats occupied by B. longinqua in Uruguay. We also tested its proba- ble mechanisms of dispersion, hypothesizing a linkage with synantropic sites using a logistic regression, and discussed the perspectives of dispersion in Uruguay and other countries. Materials and methods Material studied The examined specimens were from the arachnological collections in Uruguay Downloaded By: [Guerrero, José Carlos] At: 21:25 8 June 2011 including Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Montevideo (MNHN), Sección Entomología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo (FCE) and Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria, Tacuarembó (INIAT). Data in natural environments were obtained from diurnal and nocturnal collecting sur- veys performed from 1988 to 2010 in Uruguayan native forests, wetlands, prairies and coastal sand dunes. In addition, from January 2009 to January 2010, we inten- sively sampled from a variety of urban localities and Eucalyptus plantations of Canelones, Durazno, Colonia, Flores, Florida, Lavalleja, Maldonado, Montevideo, Rivera, Rocha, San José, Soriano, Tacuarembó and Treinta y Tres covering from the south to the north of Uruguay. Spiders were captured by hand in diurnal col- lections, preserved in 75% alcohol and deposited in FCE. Collecting sites were georeferenced and a map distribution was elaborated using the free program ON LINE MAP CREATION (OMC) (Weinelt 2006). The OMC provides an interface with the GENERIC MAPPING TOOLS software, which is an open source collection for manipulating geographic and Cartesian data sets. Journal of Natural History 1639 Table 1. Occurrence of Badumna longinqua in different types of Uruguayan habitats and build- ings with the dates of presence/absence