Variation in Spatial Distribution of Spider Fauna Between Agricultural and Arid Land of Shujabad, Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Spiders are the little creature that have key role in ecosystem especially in terms of biodiversity controlling agent. This survey-based study was conducted on spiders to assess their diversity in two different habitat conditions of Pakistan. In this study, 29 species, 15 genera and 7 families were collected. Lycosidae family had the highest diversity 55% followed by Araneidae (29%), Gnaphosidae (3%), Salticidae (3%), Oxyopidae (0.35%), Tetragnathidae (7%) and Thomisidae (3%). The Hippasa, Pardosa, Eriovixia, Araneus, Tetragnatha, Sitticus and Gnaphosa were most dominant genus out of observed 15 genera. Furthermore, the dominant species in agricultural land includes; Pardosa sutherlandi, Araneus nympha, Eriovixia lagleizai and Tetragnatha javana. The arid land was dominated by Hippasa holmerae, Hippasa pisaurina, Pardosa leucopalpis, Thomisus dostinikus and Gnaphosa harpax. Moreover, results for Simpson and Shannon indices revealed that the maximum diversity was found in habitat C as 82% on Simpson scale and 84% on Shannon scale. The Sorenson similarity indices revealed there is no more overlap between the different habitats species diversity. The study concluded that the agricultural land having scattered plants like mangos had higher diversity of spiders.