Shortt Communficattfion Spfiders of Gujaratt : a prelfimfinary checklfistt

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The current world list of spider includes 46,386 species under 4,026 genera and 113 families (WSC 2017).India has over 1,700 species belonging to 450 genera under 61 families (WSC 2017).So far, in India, state level checklists have not been compiled.This information is crucial for the forest department to understand the wealth of biodiversity in their states.With this objective, the Gujarat Biodiversity Board (GBB) initiated projects for compilation and documentation of biodiversity of various taxa in Gujarat.As a result of this initiative, surveys for documenting spiders in Gujarat were carried out from March 2014 to May 2015.

Study area
The study was conducted in Gujarat (22.309425N & 72.136230 E), India.Gujarat has 33 districts and 24 protected areas.The climate normally remains hot reaching a temperature of 45 0 C in the summer and lowering down to 25 0 C during the winter.The average annual rainfall ranges between 51 and 102 centimeters.
Based on the climatic variation, Gujarat is divided into eight agro-climatic zones by the Agriculture and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat: (i) lower southern Gujarat, (ii) upper southern Gujarat, (iii) middle Gujarat, (iv) northern Gujarat, (v) Bhal & coastal area, (vi) southern Saurashtra, (vii) northern Saurashtra, and (viii) northwestern zone (Fig. 1, Table 1).Each zone varies from the other in terms of its habitat, flora, climate, soil and rainfall.These variations in the zones results in the diverse groups of organisms, thus making it a potential site for carrying out the present study.

Methods
The sampling of spiders was carried out from the month of March 2014 to May 2015 throughout Gujarat.The study sites were selected based on the previous studies on spiders and carried out in the state of Gujarat (see references in in Table 3).New habitat that had not been approached or studied so far were considered for surveys.These areas included agricultural fields, residential areas, community gardens and fragmented habitats.
Spiders are found in different strata in a habitat like foliage weavers, ground weavers, foliage hunters and ground hunters and they cannot be collected with a single or common method.Therefore, different methods were applied to collect spiders from different strata.A systematic collection was made using different methods in every habitat zone during the study in Gujarat.The following methods were employed to collect spiders following Sebastian & Peter (2009) and Koh & Ming (2013).
A). Vegetation-beating: This method was targeted for spiders living in the shrub, high herb vegetation, bushes, and small trees and branches.Spiders were collected by tapping the vegetation with a stick while holding a collecting tray or inverted umbrella underneath.
B). Pitfall-trap: This method was targeted for collecting wandering ground spiders.For the pitfall trap, round plastic cups of 100mm diameter and 110mm depth were used.Each pitfall was filled with ethylene glycol (about 10mm high) and these traps were checked every 12 hours.A maximum of 50 traps were placed in forested areas for a minimum of two nights.
C). Sweep-net: Sweep nets were used to collect spiders mainly from grassy areas.Only low, primarily herbaceous or shrubby vegetation was swept.Areas without suitable vegetation were omitted.The net was emptied at regular intervals (after three to five sweeps) to avoid loss and destruction of the specimens.D).Leaf-litter sampling: Leaf litter from one square meter area was collected in a polythene bag and the materials were dumped on a white surface to collect the spiders living in the microhabitat.In each habitat, 20-25 collections of leaf-litter were done from different areas.E).Active Search: Whenever spiders were encountered, they were carefully picked without injuring them and transferred to plastic vials containing ethanol.Small spiders were collected with the help of a brush dipped in ethanol.Sedentary spiders found on the leaf blades and those on the webs were caught in the vial by holding it open beneath them and by dislodging the spiders into it.

Result and Discussion
Spider documentation in the past from Gujarat has been relatively well done because of the work of the pioneer arachnologist, Dr. B.H. Patel, who described 16 new species of spiders and published several checklists from different parts of the state (Patel 1971(Patel , 1973(Patel , 1975a(Patel ,b, 2003;;Patel & Vyas 2001).He contributed over 33% of the total spider records from Gujarat and popularized spider studies in the state.Apart from his publications, several sporadic taxonomic descriptions and checklists from Gujarat were published by different arachnologists/researchers (Siliwal 2003a,b;Trivedi 2009;Parasharya & Vyas 2013;Kumar 2015;Solanki 2016).
Based on a review of literature and primary data collected during the present study, an updated checklist of spiders of Gujarat was prepared for the first time.So far, 415 species under 169 genera and 40 families have been reported from Gujarat (Table 3).Of these, 149 species belonging to 99 genera and 28 families were recorded during the present study (Table 3).The study area was divided into eight zones and spider diversity in each zone is summarized in districts and part of Bharuch and Kheda districts (Patel & Vyas 2001;Patel 2003).Whereas, the least records of spiders were from Zone VI (southern Saurashtra areas), with least family and generic documentation (Table 2).It is mainly because of the semi-arid habitat and logistics that very few spiders were recorded from this zone.
To achieve optimum diversity of spiders in the collection, a combination of all the methods were found to be useful rather than a single method.Like the pit-fall trap method was found to be more effective than the rest of the methods for collecting ground spiders.Whereas, the active search method was useful in collecting webweavers, burrowing spiders and spiders living on tree trunks, leaf-litter sampling was found to be useful in collecting very small spiders like oonopids and zodariids.
Of the total spiders recorded from Gujarat, the analysis shows that a fair number of endemic species are represented in the state: 31 species are endemic to Gujarat, 150 species endemic to India and 26 species endemic to South Asia.
Overall, there were 19 interesting records of spiders during the present study, which will be published in separate papers.During the study, the Palearctic genus Erigone was found in Gujarat, which was previously known only from the Himalaya.Amongst mygalomorphs, three genera of the tarantula family Theraphosidae (Chilobrachys, Plesiophrictus and Poecilotheria) have been recorded from the region.With Plesiophrictus millardi Pocock, 1899 and Poecilotheria regalis Pocock, 1899 records in Dangs is the northern most distribution range for these species in the Western Ghats.Apart from theraphosids, the trapdoor genus Idiops of the Idiopidae was also recorded during the study and mygalomorphs were predominantly recorded from Dangs, southern Gujarat (Table 3).

Conclusion
Arthropod studies in Gujarat in the past were mainly based on opportunistic collections.Most of the studies were sporadic and restricted to a few localities and one season.The present study therefore, emphasized on systematic collection covering all habitat zones in Gujarat as a result of which we have come up with many interesting records of spiders.

Figure
Figure 1.Map of agro-climatic zones of Gujarat