Research Journal of Recent Sciences ______ ______________________________ ______ ____ ___ ISSN 2277 - 2502 Vol. 4 ( I YS C - 201 5 ), 30 - 3 5 (201 5 ) Res. J. Re cent . Sci. International Science Congress Association 30 Taxonomic Status of Spiders in Mehsana District North Gujarat, India M.B. Patel 1 and M.I. Patel 2 1 Department of Biology, Navyug Science College, Surat , Gujrat, INDIA 2 Merchant S cience C ollege, Gadha , Gujrat, INDIA Available online at: www.isca.in , www.isca.me Received 5 th August 201 5 , revised 4 th September 20 1 5 , accepted 7 th September 20 1 5 Abstract The ecological study was conducted in Mehsana district, north Gujarat. The climate of a study area is tropical arid to semi – arid. It is strongly periodical and seasonal. Overall the spider faunal status, occurrence and abundance are found rich in Mehsana district. It is due to its topography, climatic condition, and agriculture practice. 9 0 species were identified belonging to 46 genera and 18 families. Majority of available species belong to hunting group. Of the highest count of 18 families, maximum genera are of families Salticidae and Araneidae. Hippasa pisaurina, Pocoek is a pre domina nt species in a district. Maximum population is found in Early Monsoon and during cold and dry season the population is very low. The impact of food availability, temperature, crop calendar and seasonal fluctuation has been observed on diversified populati on in different habitat of spiders. Habitat preference is very specific to different families. e.g. Areneidae family mem ber are restricted to farmland. Key words: Season, habitat ecology, wetland, wasteland, genus, species, mimicry . Introduction The dec ade from 2011 to 2020 is being celebrated as a Decade of Biodiversity throughout the world. Organisms have their own important in a nature. With this point of view we have selected the most adaptive and cosmopolite group: spiders. Arthropods are highly div ersified and adaptive creatures. Spider group is one of them. Spider diversity of different ecosystem is also very vast. Taxonomic investigation has been done by many Arachnologist since 19 th century. Our knowledge of the Indian forms is extremely fragment ary. Apart from taxonomic study, ecological study with taxonomic status was not done in our country. Taxonomic investigation based on ecology is a base line to study biodiversity. Habitat Ecology along with Population Ecology gives a specific direction to conserve fauna and flora. In 19 th century, Simson 1 (1885), Cambridge 2 (1879) and Karsch 3 (1973) reported many interesting forms of spiders from Indian. Pocock 4 (1900) was the pioneer to work on this group of spiders. Tikader 5 - 18 (1960 – 1969) described a number of species of various families from India. Patel 19 - 20 (1973, 1987) has done major work on taxonomic aspects of this group in Gujarat. In North Gujarat the investigation on taxonomy with relation to ecology was not done at all though it is a best ha bitat for spiders. It is a preferable habitat for spiders due to its topography, semi desert condition, tropical climate and agriculture practice. Primary field visits directed to us that spiders are found in farmland, westland, wetland, houses etc. Throug h literature it was found that they are categorised into four groups, such as hunting spiders, web – building spiders, ambushing spiders and miscellaneous group. It is based on their feeding guilds. Study Area : Gujarat is located on the West coast of Ind ia and lies between latitudes 10.1 o N and 24.7 o N and longitudes 68.4 o E and 74.4 o E ( fig ure - 1). The main land is almost flat plain made up of alluvial soil and some sandy soil in the North. The climate of north Gujarat is tropical in nature as the Tropic o f Cancer passes through it. There is a large spatial and temporal variation in rain fall. Area of Mehsana district (23 o 02’to 24 o 09’ North latitudes and 71 o 26’ to 72 o 51’ East longitudes) of Gujarat was selected for study. In total four different sites were selected for collection with respect to different habitat: urban area, hilly forest area, crop field area, opens westland area. The climate is also changeable throughout the year. Winter (November - January) is a cool period and summer (February - June ) is a hot period in the district. Monsoon starts during mid - June and extends up to mid - October. Average percent relative humidity ranged 43.57 to 86.60 during study period (Fig ure - 2). Average rainfall remained during Late Monsoon (321mm) and low during Po st Monsoon (25mm). Moisture status remained dry during winter and Early Summer but varied during Late Summer and Post Monsoon. Winter has very short photoperiod (average 11 - 19 hrs) and later on it increases. Highest photoperiodism remains during Early Mons oon (average 14 - 12 hrs). Vegetation of a district has been classified as “Indian desert” by Clarke 21 (1898). Various types are crops grown. Sowing and harvesting seasons of cereals and pulses in a study area spread almost entire year, except April, May, Ju ne and September. Research Journal of Recent Sciences ______ _ _ _______________________________ ______________ _ ________ ISSN 2277 - 2502 Vol. 4 ( I YS C - 201 5 ), 30 - 3 5 (201 5 ) R es. J. Recent. Sci. International Science Congress Association 31 Insect fauna was observed in luxurious number and variety during Monsoon. Some of them are the pest of cereals and pulses. Total 37 insectivorous bird species w ere seen during study period. Formulae used to study : Percent Species Rich ness = Seasonal Index (SI) = Similarity (sim) = Where A= number of species in area “A”, B=number of species in area “B”, C= number of species Common to “A” and “B”. Material and Methods The spider fauna and its diversity (order: Araneae) of District Mehsana, Gujarat, India has been studied. Different spider species were collected from the study area viz., Mehsana, Visnagar, Kheralu, Taranga, Vadnagar, Kadi, Becharaji and their surrounding places during the perio d from 2003 to 2005 (Fig ure - 1). Mainly collection was done during Monsoon and randomly in other seasons. The selected habitats were mainly the agricultural habitat, wastelands, wetlands and houses as well as dead huts. Spiders were collected mostly by hand . Searching was done by jerking the twigs of trees and bushes, keeping inverted open umbrella below to collect fallen spiders. They were kept in plastic tubes (5cm x 2cm) containing 7 0% ethanol and a slip indicating date and place etc. They were also colle cted by pit - fall trap method and sweeping method. Pit - fall trap method helps to capture non - weavers. Ditches (10 to 15 cm) were made and kept in the plastic dish (10 cm wide) filled with ethylene glycerol. Sweeping method was operated at early morning or at evening. The sweeping net (60 cm long and 24 cm wide) was operated at crop fields, farms, or ground and tall grasses. Spiders from net were collected and preserved in the containers. Identification key was adopted. These were identified in laboratory w ith the help of microscope, Carl Zeiss, Jena, Germany, with magnification 80 to 100 x. The specimen was identified with the help of standard literature and with the consultation of experts. Results and Discussion During field study total 1200 specimens we re collected. Out of it 552 samples were from farmland, 312 samples from wetland, 216 samples from wasteland and 120 samples from houses and huts. All these specimens are identified in different groups with respect to their habitat. Out of these specimens, 90 species were identified belonging to 46 genera and 18 families ( table - 1). Majority of the available species belong to hunting group. 47 species are of hunting spiders. The member of a family Thomisidae is all Ambushing spiders. 2 9 species builds web ( t able - 2). The highest count of species was obtained in families Araneidae, Salticidae and Lycosidae while the lowest count was obtained from the families Amauroboridae, Oeicobidae, Pisauridae and Scytodiidae in Mehsana district. Out of 18 families, maximum genera are obtained from the families Salticidae and Aranidae ( table - 1). Some have found only one genus like Amauroboridae, Eresidae, Oecobidae, Pisaurobidae, Scytodidae, Salenopidae, Uloboridae and Urocteridae ( t able - 1). There were 90 species in a study a rea among them richest group is belonging to Araneidae, Salticidae, Lycociae. Some have only one species ( table - 1). Hippasa pisaurina, Pocock is a predominant species in this tropical area. 22 species are available during study period once a time. The fami ly Amaurobiidae is cosmopolite, found all over the world, was found in a wasteland habitat. It means wasteland also act as a shelter to fauna. Table - 1 Available species belong to their families and genera Name of Family Number of Genera Number of species Amaurobiidae 1 1 Araneidae 8 21 Clubionidae 2 3 Gnaposidae 2 2 Eresidae 1 2 Heteropodidae 2 3 Lycosidae 5 16 Oecobiidae 1 1 Oxyopidae 2 7 Pholcidae 3 3 Pisauridae 1 1 Slticidae 9 18 Scytodidae 1 1 selenopidae 1 1 Theridiidae 3 3 Thomisidae 2 4 Uloboridae 1 2 Urocteidae 1 1 Total 46 90 Biodiversity with respect to climate: It was experienced that very low species population was available during cold and dry period (Winter and Early Summer) (Table 3). Population of spiders starts to incr ease after Early Summer and reach at peak in Early Monsoon ( fig ure - 2). Food source in Monsoon might be the prime factor ( table - 3). Barghusen Et al. 23 (1997) has observed that temperature effect on web - building behaviour of the common house spiders in a te mperate region. In winter in some species hibernation chambers were observed by Patel and Kareemullah 24 (1989). Here it is a tropical area, though r = +0.85 value shows that there is a positive effects of temperature on spider population ( table - 3). Rainfal l is irregular in Mehsana district. Rainfall directly does not effect on population but due to large count of insect fauna it gets credit. Subrammyam 25 Research Journal of Recent Sciences ______ _ _ _______________________________ ______________ _ ________ ISSN 2277 - 2502 Vol. 4 ( I YS C - 201 5 ), 30 - 3 5 (201 5 ) R es. J. Recent. Sci. International Science Congress Association 32 reported that the members of family Argiopidae, Sparasidae, Clubionidae, Psechridae, Lycocidae and Oxyop idae become active on the onset of Monsoon. Season wise Species Richness (SR) shows that % SR is 64 in Early Monsoon where as it goes down at 20 % SR in winter ( table - 3). Photoperiodism moderately effects (r = +0.70) ( table - 3). Brady 26 gave a reason why ve ry little research has been conducted on the feeding ecology of spiders. It might be due to the difficulty in observing predation by these vagrant spiders in the field. Table - 2 Different categories of spiders in different taxa observed in a study area Gr oup Family Genus Species Total Hunting Spiders Clubionidae Lycosidae Oxyopidae Pholcidae Salticidae 02 05 02 03 09 03 16 07 03 18 47 Web - building Spiders Araneidae Eresidae Oeicobidae Theridiidae Uloboridae 08 01 01 03 01 21 02 01 03 02 29 Ambushing Spi ders Thomisidae 02 04 04 Miscellaneous Spiders Amauroboridae Gnaphosidae Heteropoidae Pisauridae Scytodiidae Selenopidae Uroctedae 01 02 02 01 01 01 01 01 02 03 01 01 01 01 10 Total 18 46 90 90 Table - 3 Season wise Species Richness (SR) in spider’s pop ulation of a study area Season Species Richness (%) Winter 20 Early summer 26 Late summer 54 Early monsoon 64 Late monsoon 51 Post monsoon 68 Correlation of SR with climatic factors Factors r – Value Remark Sps. Richness ๏‚ฎ Average temp. + 0.85 Fairly Correlated Sps. Richness ๏‚ฎ % Humidity + 0.48 Low Correlated Sps. Richness ๏‚ฎ Rainfall + 0.52 Moderate Correlated Sps. Richness ๏‚ฎ Photo. Perio. + 0.69 Moderate Correlated Habitat preference: Evolutionary aspect shows that the se creatures are well adapted to a drought condition and spread even all over the world. Preference of habitat was observed very specific in a study area. Member of family Lycosidae and Theridiidae select wetland habitat. Hippassa pisaurina, Pocock is very common. Araneidae family members are restricted to farmland ( table - 4) and remained active as per crop calendar. Other families like Oxyopidae and Thromisidae also prefer crop land area ( table - 4). Out of a total population 46 percent population were found in farmland. Nescona theis, Tikader, Oxyopidae ratnae, Tikader and Tibellus pateli are observed in large scale. Wasteland groups belonging to Heteropoidae and Eresidae, families. Olios punctipus, Simon and Stegodyphus socialis, Pocock are see in high rang among wasteland species. Human habitation i.e. houses and huts are selected by the members of Pholicidae. Atema atlanta, Walckenaer species is common in it ( table - 4). They are only 10 percent. The species which prefer vegetation and mimic are found in farm land, even though they struggle with insecticides. Wetland group prefers to stay near grass patch and hanging twigs over water. Wasteland population try to hide their selves under dry leaves. Mostly they prefer to live within xerophytes vegetation for web preparation. Pholicidae group selects the unused high site corners sites of houses. The selection of members of farmland and wetland has a high degree (0.25) Similarity Index. Because mostly wetland are covered with croplands. There is no relation between farmland and wasteland (0.08) ( table - 5). It is due to diversified vegetation. Table - 4 Family wise habitat selection within the study area Family (Number of samples) Farmland Wetland Wasteland Houses Amaurobiidae 00 00 026 00 Araneidae 144 00 00 00 Clu bionidae 041 00 00 00 Eresidae 00 00 059 00 Gnaphosidae 031 00 00 00 Heteropoidae 00 00 071 00 Lycosidae 031 222 00 001 Oeicobidae 00 00 00 020 Oxyopidae 084 00 00 00 Pholicidae 00 00 00 058 Pisauridae 00 00 009 001 Salticidae 028 00 006 014 Scyt odiidae 00 010 00 00 Selenopidae 00 00 00 005 Theridiidae 00 063 00 00 Thomisidae 082 00 00 00 Uloboridae 037 00 00 00 Urocteridae 00 010 027 00 Dried samples* 070 007 018 021 Very small sized sample * 004 00 00 00 Total 552 312 216 120 Research Journal of Recent Sciences ______ _ _ _______________________________ ______________ _ ________ ISSN 2277 - 2502 Vol. 4 ( I YS C - 201 5 ), 30 - 3 5 (201 5 ) R es. J. Recent. Sci. International Science Congress Association 33 Table – 5 D egree of similarity of habitat preferred by spiders in a study area Sites Similarity Index Degree of Similarity Site I and II 0.25 High Site III and IV 0.21 High Site I and IV 0.13 Moderate Site II and III 0.12 Moderate Site II and IV 0.11 Moderate Site I and III 0.08 Low Conclusion Climate of Mehsana district is tropical arid to semi - arid. It is strongly periodical and seasonal. The higher count of species obtained was from the families of Araneidae, Salticidae and Lycocidae while the lowest count was obtained from the families Amauroboridae, Oeicobidae, Pisauroidae, Scytodidae, Selenopidae and urocteridae in this District. Hunting spiders are dominant in this area (47 sps.). Ambushing type spiders were very less (4 sps.). Lycocidae and Theridiidae families prefer wetland. Areneidae families restricted to farmland only. Heteropidae and Eresidae group prefer wasteland habitat. Members of Pholicidae family were found in huts and houses. Early monsoon and thereafter are more favourable seasons to spide rs but not cold season. Over all the spiders faunal status, occurrence and abundance is found rich in a district. Mimicry is a specific behaviour for survival to spiders. Feeding ecology will give more lighting for unsolved problems on spider population. Fig ure – 1 Map of study area 1.The Gujarat State within India, 2. The Mehsana region within Gujarat, 3.The Mehsana District indicate Sites Research Journal of Recent Sciences ______ _ _ _______________________________ ______________ _ ________ ISSN 2277 - 2502 Vol. 4 ( I YS C - 201 5 ), 30 - 3 5 (201 5 ) R es. J. Recent. Sci. International Science Congress Association 34 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Avg. Sps. Popu. Sps. Population 10 12 14 16 Photo. in Hrs Photoperiodism 0 100 200 300 400 Rainfall in mm Rainfall 40 60 80 % RH % Humidity 20 40 60 Temp. in C Max. Temp. 10 20 30 W ES LS EM LM PM Temp. in C Season Mini. Temp. Figure – 2 Average climatic factors and species population in a study area Research Journal of Recent Sciences ______ _ _ _______________________________ ______________ _ ________ ISSN 2277 - 2502 Vol. 4 ( I YS C - 201 5 ), 30 - 3 5 (201 5 ) R es. J. Recent. Sci. International Science Congress Association 35 References 1. Simon E., Materiaux pour servir a la fauna arachnologigue d 1' Asie merifion ale, J. Bul l . Soc. Zoo l . FT., 10 , 1 - 2 6 (1985) 2. Cambridge P., On some new and little known species Of Araneida, with remarks on genus Gasteracantha, Proc. Zool. Soc. London., 279 - 293 (1879) 3. Karsch F., Verzei chniss West falischer specimen (Araneidae). Verh , Naturh. Ver. Preuss. Rheinl., 10(3 ), 113 – 160 (1973) 4. Pocock R.I., The Fauna of British India including Burma and Ceylon. Arachnida. Taylor and Francis, London: 153 - 279. Patel, B.H. (1973 a): Some interesting Theridiid spiders (Araneida) harvestman (phalangida) in West Bengal, India , J. Bombay nat. Hist. 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