Araneofauna of the Křéby National Nature Monument (Eastern Moravia, Czech Republic) with some notes to conservation management of the locality

Abstract

This paper makes a faunistic contribution to knowledge of spider composition in the xerothermic habitats of the Křéby National Nature Monument which is located in Kroměříž district, eastern Moravia. Spiders were collected by four different methods during 25 April–28 October 2013: pitfall traps, sweeping of herb vegetation, individual collecting and beating the branches of shrubs and trees. In total, 1070 individuals (865 adult spiders) were collected and identified as 114 species of 19 families. The species diversity in the Křéby area is rather high, representing approximately 13% of Czech araneofauna. Of the identified species, five are listed in the Red List of Threatened Species in the Czech Republic. These included critically endangered Dysdera hungarica Kulczynski 1897, endangered Alopecosa solitaria (Herman, 1879), Cheiracanthium montanum (C. L. Koch, 1877) and vulnerable Lathys stigmatisata (Menge, 1869) and Haplodrassus dalmatensis (L. Koch, 1866). The findings of Alopecosa solitaria and Dysdera hungarica belong to the northernmost occurrence of these rare species in the Czech Republic. In general, the great richness of spider fauna and the occurrence of rare and threatened species for Czech region confirm the high biotic value of the investigated area. In addition, the author discussed management methods of the locality and suggest management conservation system for slowing down the succession rate on overgrown places.