Discovery of presumably introduced spiders, Oedignathascrobiculata Thorell, 1881 (Araneae, Liocranidae) and Boagriusqiong Lin & Li, 2022 (Araneae, Palpimanidae) on Chichi-jima Island, the Ogasawara Islands, Japan.

Abstract

The spider fauna of the Ogasawara Islands, oceanic islands located 1,000 km south of mainland Japan was comprehensively examined by the National Museum of Nature and Science in 2011, which revealed that approximately 70% of the spider fauna was composed of non-native species. Following the preceding study, however, only descriptions of several new species have been added and no major updates have been made for the overall spider fauna of the Islands. The faunistic survey of spiders conducted on Chichi-jima Island, the largest island in the Ogasawara Islands in 2023 revealed the presence of two ground-dwelling spider species, Oedignathascrobiculata Thorell, 1881 (Araneae, Liocranidae) and Boagriusqiong Lin & Li, 2022 (Araneae, Palpimanidae) on the Island. This represents the first record of the two species from Japan, the first record of palpimaid spiders from Japan and the initial documentation of liocranid spiders in the Ogasawara Islands.