GROUND-LIVING SPIDERS, OPILIONIDS, AND PSEUDOSCORPIONS OF PEATLANDS IN QUEBEC

• Published in: Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada
• Main Author: Koponen, Seppo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1994
• Subjects: Arctic; Subarctic; taiga
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4039/entm126169041-1; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0071075X00004033

Abstract Peatlands were studied in temperate, boreal, subarctic, and arctic wetland regions of Quebec, mainly using pitfall traps. Altogether, 169 species of spiders, belonging to 14 families, were collected; 73 species were found only in the temperate-boreal region, 58 only in the subarctic-arctic region, and 38 in both regions. The most species-rich spider families were Linyphiidae (58.3% of all species), Lycosidae (12.4%), and Gnaphosidae (7.1%). Families occurring only, or mainly, in the temperate (and boreal) region were Hahniidae, Dictynidae, Salticidae, Liocranidae, and Theridiidae. Linyphiidae, especially Erigoninae, were typical of the subarctic region. Alopecosa aculeata (Clerck) and Pardosa hyperborea (Thorell) (Lycosidae), Theonoe stridula Crosby (Theridiidae), and Ceratinella brunnea Emerton (Linyphiidae) were found in six of the seven study areas. Seven of the eight opilionid species were found in the temperate region, but Mitopus morio (Fabricius) occurred only in the subarctic bogs. The only pseudoscorpion, Microbisium brunneum (Hagen), was caught in the temperate, boreal, and subarctic regions. The percentage of spiders collected in bogs of both Quebec and southern Ontario was 64% in the temperate region and only 27% in the subarctic region. Almost 50% of species from bogs in the Manitoba taiga were found also in Quebec. About a third of the Quebec bog spiders are Holarctic.