Abstract
A total of 47 spider species are alien to Europe; this corresponds to 1.3 % of the native spider fauna. They belong to (in order of decreasing abundance) Theridiidae (10 species), Pholcidae (7 species), Sparassidae, Salticidae, Linyphiidae, Oonopidae (4-5 species each) and 11 further families. There is a remarkable increase of new records in the last years and the arrival of one new species for Europe per year has been predicted for the next decades. One third of alien spiders have an Asian origin, one fifth comes from North America and Africa each. 45 % of species may originate from temperate habitats and 55 % from tropical habitats. In the past banana or other fruit shipments were an important pathway of introduction; today potted plants and probably container shipments in general are more important. Most alien spiders established in and around human buildings, only few species established in natural sites. No environmental impact of alien species is known so far, but some alien species are theoretically dangerous to humans.
Highlights
Spiders are among the most diverse orders in arthropods with a world-wide distribution in all terrestrial habitats and more than 40,000 species, grouped in 109 families (Platnick 2008)
Kobelt and Nentwig (2008) analysed the arrival of 87 alien spider species with known arrival date and concluded that the known number of alien spider introductions still represents an underestimation. They predict a continuous trend of more alien species and give the figure of at least one additional alien spider species annually arriving in Europe in the near future
In a few cases the origin is not known or subjected to expert guess (Fig. 7.3.2). Such cosmopolitan species are not truly cosmopolitan because they have a defined area of origin, but due to early spread among many or all continents and due to lacking phylogeographical information, it is sometimes still impossible to solve such a puzzle. These results suggest that the closer a continent is (Palaearctic) and the more traffic and goods exchange exists (Asia, North America), the more alien species are imported
Summary
Spiders are among the most diverse orders in arthropods with a world-wide distribution in all terrestrial habitats and more than 40,000 species, grouped in 109 families (Platnick 2008). Ditional number of at least 50–100 species are alien within Europe, i.e. they originate, e.g., from the Mediterranean or from eastern parts of Europe and spread gradually into other parts of Europe. Such aliens within Europe are not considered here. Spiders which do not build a web live as sit-and-wait predators (e.g., Clubionidae, Gnaphosidae, Lycosidae, Sparassidae, and Thomisidae) or actively hunt for prey (such as Salticidae). For this compilation of alien spiders to Europe the DAISIE database (www.europe-aliens.org) was used. All the reports on tropical Ctenidae or Theraphosidae arriving with banana shipments in Europe never lead to an established population of these spiders and were not included into our chapter
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