Araneae Sloveniae: a national spider species checklist.

Matjaž Kuntner,Rok Kostanjšek

doi:10.3897/zookeys.474.8474

Matjaž Kuntner, Rok Kostanjšek

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.474.8474

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Abstract

The research of the spider fauna of Slovenia dates back to the very beginning of binomial nomenclature, and has gone through more and less prolific phases with authors concentrating on taxonomy, faunistics, ecology and zoogeographic reviews. Although the body of published works is remarkable for a small nation, the faunistic data has remained too scattered for a thorough understanding of regional biotic diversity, for comparative and ecological research, and for informed conservation purposes. A national checklist is long overdue. Here, a critical review of all published records in any language is provided. The species list currently comprises 738 species, is published online at http://www.bioportal.si/katalog/araneae.php under the title Araneae Sloveniae, and will be updated in due course. This tool will fill the void in cataloguing regional spider faunas and will facilitate further araneological research in central and southern Europe.

Highlights

At roughly 20,000 km2, Slovenia’s territory may be relatively small, but its position in between the Mediterranean, Alpine, Dinaric and Pannonic biogeographic regions is unique, and its native biota is rich and remarkable
Our aim is to provide a critically filtered list of all relevant literature, in any language, that listed data relevant for Slovenian spider faunistics, and a list of all spider species recorded in this territory, cleaned for dubious, erroneous, and synonymous records
The present checklist is based on all published literature containing information on spiders found in the territory of Slovenia and includes several new records based on recently collected material

Summary

Introduction

At roughly 20,000 km, Slovenia’s territory may be relatively small, but its position in between the Mediterranean, Alpine, Dinaric and Pannonic biogeographic regions is unique, and its native biota is rich and remarkable. Our aim is to provide a critically filtered list of all relevant literature, in any language, that listed data relevant for Slovenian spider faunistics, and a list of all spider species recorded in this territory, cleaned for dubious, erroneous, and synonymous records. This checklist is simultaneously published online facilitating regular updates. The beginnings go back to the 18th century, when Scopoli (1763) described 44 spider species from Carniola following Linné’s nomenclature. Scopoli’s cataloguing (Scopoli 1763, 1772) included both plants and animals, with spiders taking a prominent part. Most of the 19th century works were taxonomic and cataloguing in nature (Damin 1900; Doblika 1853; Doleschall 1852; Hamann 1896; Joseph 1881, 1882; Schiödte 1847; Simon 1868, 1882), adding to the recognition of the territory’s biotic importance, in karstic caves (Hamann 1896; Schiödte 1847)

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