The spider (Aranei) fauna of the Urals: diversity, structure, typification

• Published in: Caucasian Entomological Bulletin
• Main Author: S.L. Esyunin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: Southern Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Science, Federal state budgetary institution 2015
• Subjects: Aranei; fauna; diversity; Urals; Zoology; QL1-991; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.23885/1814-3326-2015-11-2-237-257; https://doaj.org/article/803b2965d8974991a03f3e282b6c45c4

The spider fauna of the Urals accounted 485 species belonging to 202 genera and 23 families. The spider fauna of the Urals is much less diverse in comparison with faunas of the adjacent plains and surrounding mountains. e species diversity of the Urals high-mountain local spiders fauna fluctuates insignificantly from North to South. The spider faunas of the low-mountain Middle Ural are characterized by high species diversity, which is identical to that detected in the Cisuralian plains. Two types of faunas are recognized in the Urals: 1) Hypoarctic (= Subarctic) oligotaxon linyphiid fauna predominantly distributed on the Polar Ural and 2) Boreal polytaxon linyphiid fauna prevailing in all others regions. The regional faunas are differs by a composition of the most diverse genera. e basis of the Urals spider fauna is composed by species with wide ranges: Palaearctic, Holarctic and Euro-Siberian, as well as with Temperate, Boreal and polyzonal distribution. The degree of endemism of Urals spiders fauna is very low, with only a few relict species discovered. The major factors controlling the structure and diversity of the Urals faunas are the altitude of mountains, climatic latitudinal gradient and historical ground (migratory flows).