IAR Journal of Agriculture Research and Life Sciences ISSN Print : 2708-5090 | ISSN Online : 2708-5104 Frequency : Monthly Language : English Origin : Kenya Website : https://www.iarconsortium.org/journal-info/iarjals Review Article State of Knowledge on Spiders (Arachnids, Araneae) In Côte d'Ivoire (West Africa) Article History Abstract: The present work synthesizes the publications concerning the arachnological fauna of Côte d'Ivoire. Work on spiders began in 1962 and continued until 2008. They were Received: 26.02. 2021 carried out in the center, east, west and north of the country. These spiders have interested Revision: 08. 03. 2021 10 authors who have written 20 publications. The main authors are Patrick Blandin (spider Accepted: 19. 03 .2021 community ecology) and Rudy Jocqué (Ctenidae, Lycosidae and Zodariidae). To date, more Published: 20. 03. 2021 than 331 species belonging to 168 genera and 46 families have been recorded in Côte d'Ivoire. Lycosidae are the most abundant with the most species described in Côte d'Ivoire. Author Details N’Guessan Kouadio Kevin1, Mamadou Keywords: spiders, Lycosidae, publications, Lamto savannah, Côte d’Ivoire. Doumbia1, Koffi Eric Kwadjo1, Robin 2 1 Lyle , KRA Kouadio Dagobert INTRODUCTION Authors Affiliations 1 Tropical forests that cover less than 7% of the planet are University Nangui Abrogoua, UFR-SN disappearing day by day. In Africa, the degradation of forest cover and Department of Natural Sciences, 02 BP 801 Abidjan 02, Côte d’Ivoire the loss of biodiversity has become very worrying with alarming 2 proportions. Africa's forest cover has decreased from 749 million hectares ARC-Plant Health and Protection, Private in 1990 to 674 million hectares in 2010 (FAO, 2010). In Côte d'Ivoire, a Bag X134, Queenswood, Pretoria, 0121, South country located in West Africa, forest cover is also decreasing drastically Africa under the influence of climate change and anthropogenic actions. Forest Corresponding Author* cover has decreased from over 16 million hectares in the 1900s to 1,385 N’Guessan Kouadio Kevin million hectares in 2010 (Lauginie, 2007; Koné et al., 2014; Gnaoré et How to Cite the Article: al., 2020). Along with the forests, a great diversity of animal and plant N’Guessan Kouadio Kevin, Mamadou Doumbia, life forms, divided into four ecological zones of the country, is also Koffi Eric Kwadjo and Robin Lyle (2021). State of Knowledge on Spiders (Arachnids, Araneae) In Côte disappearing with the forests (Yao et al., 2013; Kouakou, 2015). The d'Ivoire (West Africa). IAR J Agri Res Life Sci, dissemination of knowledge on spiders in Côte d'Ivoire has been done by 2(2), 9-16. a dozen authors. The publications of some of them are based on the Copyright @ 2021: This is an open-access article ecology of spiders while those of others consist in describing the distributed under the terms of the Creative specimens. A total of 20 publications have been listed. Works on spiders Commons Attribution license which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in Côte d'Ivoire were carried out in the center; east, west and north of the in any medium for non commercial use country (see Fig. I). This article is a literature review which, on the one (NonCommercial, or CC-BY-NC) provided the hand, gives the history and location of the collection areas of spiders in original author and source are credited. Côte d'Ivoire, and on the other hand, presents the authors and the spiders collected and described. This synthesis of previous works will help and enable successful of future studies within the country. It is a checklist of known species recorded in the country. HISTORY The studies about spiders in Côte d'Ivoire began in 1961 with research works done at Lamto by Maxime Lamotte, Yves Gillon and Dominique Gillon (Blandin, 2015). The monitoring of spiders in Lamto savannah occured from 1962 to 1965. It was performed by a team led by Yves and Dominique Gillon. Overall, more than 100,000 spiders were collected during these samplings (Blandin, 2015). Over this same period from 1962 to 1965, the researcher Jean- François Jézéquel had participated in the collection of spiders from Lamto savannah between 1962 and 1963. He had also collected spiders in Yealé, a village at Mount Nimba’s foothill. Mr. Paul Planquette also took part in collecting spiders from Lamto savannah between 1963 and 1964 (Jézéquel, 1964; Jézéquel, 1966). In 1969, Maxime Lamotte proposed a thesis topic on the ecology of spiders in Lamto savannah. After Patrick Blandin's first results, Marie-Louise Célérier, a specialist in spider energy balances, was associated to establish energy balances for a few representative species of Lamto savannah (Blandin, 2015). Later in 2005, during a mission to assess the quality of forest fragments’ biodiversity in the eastern region of Côte d'Ivoire, Rudy Jocque collected spiders (Jocqué et al., 2005). To date, the only Ivorian arachnologist is Professor Bessekon Denis ASSI. He worked in 1992 at the University of Nancy 1 in France, on the contribution to the study of the mechanisms involved in the regulation of maternal behaviour in the Coelotes terrestris spider (Araneae, Agelenidae) (Assi, 1992). Table I provides a summary of the timelines and locations where the researchers worked in the country. 9 N’Guessan Kouadio Kevin et al., IAR J Agri Res Life Sci; Vol-2, Iss-2 (Mar-Apr -2021): 9-16 Geographical distribution of spider collection areas in Côte d'Ivoire In Côte d'Ivoire, a total of 331 species of spiders belonging to 168 genera and 46 families have been identified. The families were mostly collected in (Blandin and Célérier, 1981; Jocqué et al., 2005; Jocque and Henrard, 2015; Henrard and Jocque, 2017) the central part of the country, in Lamto pre-forest savannah, between Tiassalé and Toumodi; in the listed forests in the East of the country: Bossematié (Abengourou, Appouesso), Mabi (Bettie, Mebifon) and Songan (Bettie); in the Center, at Bouaké; in the North, in Korhogo and in the West, at Mount Nimba in Tai National Park. Table I. Geographical coordinates of spider collection points in Côte d'Ivoire Sampling periods Main authors Sampled area Closest town or city Geographical coordinates - Jézéquel (1964) -Yves and Dominique Gillon (1967) 1962 to 1965 -Patrick Blandin and Marie- Preforest savannah of Lamto Toumodi, Singrobo 6°13’N Louise Célérier (1981) 5°02’W 1965 Jean-François Jézéquel Mount Nimba Taï, Yealé 5°50’N 7°21W -Bossematié (FCB) Abengourou, Appouesso 6°20’-6°35’N Bettié, Mebifon 3°20’-3°35’W 2005 Rudy Jocqué -Mabi (FCM) 5°47’-6°03’N Bettié 3°25’-3°47’W -Songan (FCS) 5°45’-6°10’N 3°13’-3°27’W Mount Nimba, Taï forest, station 2008 to 2011 -Arnaud Henrard of the Ecological Research Center 5°50’N - Rudy Jocqué (CRE) Taï 7°21W 1980 -Rudy Jocqué Bandama River Forest bordering Korhogo 9°27’ N -Arnaud Henrard 5°38’ W 1992 -Rudy Jocqué Mbé, WARDA the Africa Rice Bouaké 7°52’ N -Arnaud Henrard Centre 5°06’ W Figure I. Geographical distribution of spider collection areas in Côte d'Ivoire 10 N’Guessan Kouadio Kevin et al., IAR J Agri Res Life Sci; Vol-2, Iss-2 (Mar-Apr -2021): 9-16 Various works carried out in Côte d'Ivoire bandamaensis and Storena bicolor) and genus The first document on spiders in Côte d’Ivoire Chariobas, Simon 1893 (Chariobas cylindraceus). have been written in 1964 by Jean-François Jézéquel on description of the new spider species from Lamto Jézéquel (1965), this study was a continuation of the savannah. The second documents were published by previous systematics. He described eight new species Yves Gillon and Dominique Gillon in 1967. Just after belonging to the family Drassidae. These spiders were these authors, in 1971, Patrick Blandin began writing also collected in Lamto savannah, particulary in the about the same subject (Blandin, 1983; Blandin, 2015). trees and shrubs. The author described the following species: genus Drassodes, Westring 1851 (Drassodes However, from a biogeographical point of view, the falciger), genus Odontodrassus, Jézéquel 1965 ecological studies taking into account data from (Odontodrassus nigritibialis and Odontodrassus savannahs and forest galleries, which have enabled a bicolor), genus Echemus, Simon 1878 (Echemus complete inventory and characterization of Lamto's pre- incinclus), genus Zelotes, Gistel 1848 (Zelotes forest savannah spiders in Côte d'Ivoire, began with singroboensis), genus Aphantaulax, Simon 1878 works of Blandin and Célérier in 1981. But it is (Aphantaulax cincta), genus Scotophaeus, Simon 1893 important to note that this study could be carried out by (Scotophaeus crinitus), genus Nomisia, Dalmas 1921 the research initiative of Maxime Lamotte, Yves and (Nomisia uncinata and Nomisia eburneensis). He also Dominique Gillon since 1961 (Blandin, 2015, Blandin reported the presence of an Abyssinian species of the and Célérier, 1981). genus Xerophaeus, Purcell 1907 (Xerophaeus coruscus) that had never been recorded in West Africa. The studies carried out so far on spiders in Côte d'Ivoire are summarized in chronological order. The main part Jézéquel (1966), this systematic study was a of these writings contains the site and the period of continuation of his previous work. The description of sampling, the species and families notified in the basic the new species was about the family Thomisidae. The documents. majority of individuals of this family were collected at Lamto, from 1963 to 1964 by Mr. Paul Planquette. First of all, the methodologies used by the various Some individuals were sampled in the gallery forests of authors are as follows: Lamto and other individuals collected in Yealé, at the Threshing and excavation of trees and shrubs foothill of Mount Nimba, by Jézéquel himself. He (Jézéquel, 1964a, b, 1965, 1966) described ten species which are: genus Stiphropus, Quadra trapping, pit trap and mowing (Gillon and Gerstaeeker 1873 (Stiphropus melas), genus Dieta, Gillon, 1967, 2015; Blandin, 1971, 1972, 1981, Simon 1880 (Dieta ribes), genus Tmarus, Simon 1875 1983, 1985) (Tmarus planquettei), genus Pherecydes, Pick.