10/09/2022
Distribution of the genus Anyphaena in the Western Mediterranean region, with the first record of Anyphaena alboirrorata in the Maghreb (Araneae: Anyphaenidae).
Aicha Habita, Souâd Benhalima, Ourida Kherbouche-Abrous, Robert Bosmans, Nadia Brague-Bouragba & Omar Guezoul.
: New data on the distribution of the genus Anyphaena Sundevall, 1833 in Mediterranean Europe and North Africa are given.
Anyphaena alboirrorata Simon, 1878 is newly recorded in the Maghreb. The species was found in the Saharan and the Tell Atlas in Algeria, in one locality in Morocco and three localities in central north Tunisia. In addition, Anyphaena numida Simon, 1897 is presented as new to Morocco, together with a further record from Algeria and Tunisia. Supplementary material from Spain was examined and the data are also given. Anyphaena sabina L. Koch, 1866 is recorded for the first time in Algeria since records by Denis in 1937.
The spider family Anyphaenidae, commonly called ghost spiders, has long been considered a subfamily of the Clubionidae and the former Drassidae (today Gnaphosidae), but they are
sufficiently distinctive to be ranked as an independent family (e.g. Platnick 1974, Ramirez 2003). According to Urones et
al. (1995) the position of the tracheal stigma, the structure of lamelliform claw tufts and the extension of its tracheal system seem to be determining features for the whole family. These spiders are mostly nocturnal, wandering hunters.
Anyphaenidae include 57 genera and 614 species world wide (World Spider Catalog 2022), but only a few species live in the western Palaearctic region (Nentwig et al. 2022). The genus Anyphaena is the largest and most unique genus of this family, distributed in Europe and North Africa. From a total of 87 species (World Spider Catalog 2022), 61 are known from North and central America (70%), 18 from Asia (21%), six from Europe (7%) and only two (2%) from Africa: Anyphaena numida Simon, 1897 and Anyphaena sabina L. Koch,
1866 (Nentwig et al. 2022). In addition to these two species, we add a further one, Anyphaena alboirrorata Simon, 1878, which was newly collected in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia and, which is therefore also new to the Maghreb region
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Three A. alboirrorata females were collected in the canopy of naturally occurring Allepo pine trees in Djelfa, where they were living in tree foliage. According to Simon (1878), this Anyphaena species lives on tall plants and shrubs. Soyer (1963) collected it on a hill and around salt flats (France), Urones et al. (1995) on vegetation in dry and open areas with a predominance of heather (Portugal and Spain). Urones (1996) also found it on vegetation in open or dry areas such as moors, open pine forests and oak forests (Portugal, Spain and Balearic Islands). Our result is in accordance with these previously published data, since our localities consisted of dry habitats. Apparently, A. alboirrorata prefers dry and hot areas with dense vegetation providing support for silken threads of their retreat.
The new records in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco are the most southern points in the known distribution of A. alboirrorata. It was captured at several localities in the northern most parts of the countries (Fig. 6), from the coast to the steppe region. This suggests that the species is fairly widespread in the region and occupies a large spectrum of different habitats. Soyer (1963) showed that adults are found late and early in the year. In Spain, the females were collected in spring (Urones 1996), however, in Algeria and Morocco adults were also found during the winter. Anyphaena numida was collected from a cork oak forest in Tunisia. This is in accordance with Urones et al. (1995) who mentioned different Mediterranean forest types as a typical habitat for the species. The here presented data show that the Maghreb region is still largely unexplored, and more efforts are needed to uncover the occurrence and distribution of spiders and other arachnids.
Reference:
Habita, A., Benhalima, S., Kherbouche-Abrous, O., Bosmans, R., Brague-Bouragba, N. & Guezoul, O. (2022). Distribution of the genus Anyphaena in the Western Mediterranean region, with the first record of Anyphaena alboirrorata in the Maghreb (Araneae: Anyphaenidae). Arachnologische Mitteilungen 63: 19-23.
