An Updated Checklist of Spider (Araneomorphae: Araneae: Arachnida) Diversity of Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

An updated checklist of faunal biodiversity of the spiders in Madhya Pradesh, one of the landlocked central Indian states, is presented herewith. A total of 336 species of spiders were enlisted under 136 genera belonging to 30 families which have been recorded/described from only 36 districts of Madhya Pradesh out of 52 districts. The maximum number of spider species was recorded from Jabalpur district (169 species) followed by Mandla (113 species), Balaghat (101 species), Chhindwara (78 species), Damoh (67 species), Betul (66 species), and Indore (63 species). The number of species of spiders recorded in 14 districts was between 10-50 while in 16 districts it was less than 10 species. Araneidae and Thomisidae both were dominant families of spiders in Madhya Pradesh and were represented by having 55 species each under 18 and 15 genera, respectively, followed by Lycosidae (39 species, 9 genera), Salticidae (37 species, 28 genera), Gnaphosidae (35 species, 12 genera), and less number in other families. Sixteen families of spiders were represented by less than 10 species. No faunal survey of spiders so far has been conducted in 16 districts of Madhya Pradesh. Most of the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, forest areas, agricultural fields, human dwellings etc. of Madhya Pradesh still await intensive and extensive survey programmes to record the spider fauna.