Litter Sifting Research Articles

Myrmecofauna (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Gökçeada Island, Türkiye

Türkiye is a very important country for faunal and floral studies due to its geographical location, the zoogeographic importance of its location and the biological richness it brings. This important area has been the subject of research on ants since second half of 19th century. However, studies on the ant fauna of the islands of Türkiye are very old and insufficient. For this reason, the ant fauna of Gökçeada, the largest island of Türkiye, was investigated by direct collecting and litter sifting methods in 2017-2018. 72 species belonging to 4 subfamilies and 23 genera were identified from 1105 ant samples obtained from 73 different localities and 16 different habitats. Among these species, Messor maculifrons Santschi, 1927 and Tetramorium sahlbergi Finzi, 1936 are new records for the ant fauna of Türkiye. In addition, the ergatoid queen of Hypoponera eduardi (Forel, 1894) was recorded for the first time outside the Afrotropical region.

Ant and spider diversity of Karuvatta, a coastal island in Vembanad, Kerala, India

Ants and spiders are good indicators of ecosystem health; therefore, the present work aims to understand the ant and spider diversity of the region Karuvatta a coastal island in Vembanad wetland ecosystem of Kerala. For the purpose of this study, the island was divided into Karamuttu and Naluchira regions. The study conducted by different collection methods like litter sifting, umbrella method, and handpicking, revealed, 72 species of spiders and 36 species of ants. Diversity indices, species accumulation curves, functional group analyses, and PCA of soil factors were worked out. The results showed that Naluchira had better diversity than Karamuttu.

Invasive ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Paratrechina longicornis along elevational gradients on Mount Marapi, West Sumatera

The diversity of ants along elevational gradients has become a topic in many scientific types of research, while the information regarding patterns of, and processes that shapes, ant community structure across different elevations is still considerably lacking. Therefore, the study about ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) at Mount Marapi, Agam Regency, West Sumatra, was conducted at three elevations (low elevation at 0-1200 m, mid-elevation at 1200-2100m and high elevation at 2100-3000 m) and by applying Quadra Protocol (honey bait trapping, soil sampling, leaf litter sifting and hand collecting). It focused on Paratrechina longicornis, renowned as an invasive species. A total of 144 individuals from this species were collected; 13 individuals from low elevation, 144 individuals from mid-elevation and 127 individuals from the high elevation. Paratrechina longicornis, also named as ‘longhorn crazy ant’, became the only species observed to be present along the whole study transects. Its ability to adapt to many artificial environments could explain its success as an invasive species. P. longicornis distributions at the elevational gradients of Mount Marapi were discussed in this paper.

Seasonal and Periodical Assessment of the Abundance and Diversity of Epigaeic Invertebrates in an Urban Forest Remnant, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Urban Forest (UF) refers to a complex human-environment system encompassing urban and peri-urban vegetation such as gardens, rivers and coastal corridors, and uninhabited yards. Human beings benefit from a healthy UF in a variety of ways such as recreation, disasters management, and the lessening of the effects of environmental deterioration (caused by the ongoing anthropogenic activities) like air pollution and ozone concentration affecting many epigaeic fauna. Epigaeic Invertebrates (EIs) are above ground foraging or litter dwelling invertebrates carrying important roles in UFs ecosystems such as ecosystem engineers and pests’ natural enemies. The present study assessed the influence of dry and wet seasons and different periods of a day (morning, afternoon, and evening hours) towards the abundance and diversity of ground dwelling invertebrates around urban forest remnant in Dar es salaam city, Tanzania. Data collection used pitfall trap, baited traps, and dry leaf litter sifting methods. A total of 10,363 EIs individuals were collected with 133 morpho species, 87 families and 18 orders (Hymenoptera dominated by 71.4%). Wet season had significantly higher abundance (6,360 individuals with 121 morpho species) than dry season (4,003 individuals and 88 morpho species), possibly due to the higher availability of food resources during rainy times. However, quite unexpectedly dry season had higher species diversity, probably due to the over dominance of a very aggressive Formicidae species in wet season that displaced some intolerable species. Also, the overall variations of species diversity and abundance between morning, afternoon, and evening hours were significantly different but higher in the morning. This suggested that EIs were active at different times of the day but were more attracted to the morning sunshine and decreased as the land became hotter. This study depicts urban forests to be among world ecosystems with relatively high levels of EIs biodiversity and hence an urgent call for their conservation efforts before it is too late.

Scale-Dependent Spatial Ecology of Paleotropical Leaf Litter Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

The grain for which an observer conducts a study is an important determinant of its outcome. Studies of ants have considered spatial grains spanning from single meters to entire forest ecosystems and found patterns related to nutrient availability, leaf litter depth, disturbance, and forest composition. Here, we examine a Bornean leaf litter ant community at small (1–4 m) and large (50–250 m) spatial scales and consider the differences in community structure using structured 1 m2 quadrats sampled via leaf litter sifting and Berlese extraction. We found that small-scale patterns in ant abundance and richness did not spatially autocorrelate within a plot until >1.5 m. Leaf litter characteristics, forest stand characteristics and sampling season were homogenous among our sites, suggesting that macro-scale stand variables are not largely regulating the small spatial scale ant communities: These may be driven by microclimate, competition, niche space, nutrient available, microclimatic conditions, or other localized effects. Further experimental work is needed to elicit causal mechanisms.

A DNA Barcoding Survey of an Arctic Arthropod Community: Implications for Future Monitoring.

Accurate and cost-effective methods for tracking changes in arthropod communities are needed to develop integrative environmental monitoring programs in the Arctic. To date, even baseline data on their species composition at established ecological monitoring sites are severely lacking. We present the results of a pilot assessment of non-marine arthropod diversity in a middle arctic tundra area near Ikaluktutiak (Cambridge Bay), Victoria Island, Nunavut, undertaken in 2018 using DNA barcodes. A total of 1264 Barcode Index Number (BIN) clusters, used as a proxy for species, were recorded. The efficacy of widely used sampling methods was assessed. Yellow pan traps captured 62% of the entire BIN diversity at the study sites. When complemented with soil and leaf litter sifting, the coverage rose up to 74.6%. Combining community-based data collection with high-throughput DNA barcoding has the potential to overcome many of the logistic, financial, and taxonomic obstacles for large-scale monitoring of the Arctic arthropod fauna.

Effects of human disturbance and altitudinal gradient on myriapod species richness and abundance at Mount Kala, central Cameroon

Myriapods are remarkably diverse and encompass many endemic species, yet they remain poorly studied in Cameroon. We investigated the influence of anthropogenic activities on myriapod assemblage structures along an altitudinal gradient at Mount Kala. Myriapods were collected by pitfall trapping, hand sorting and litter sifting in four altitudinal levels and habitats (820 m, 920 m, 1 020 m and 1 120 m above sea level) from November 2017 to July 2018. A total of 1 131 individuals from 58 species in 3 classes (Diplopoda, Chilopoda and Symphyla), 36 genera and 17 families were recorded at Mount Kala. The Diplopoda was the most abundant and diverse class (94.69% and 49 species), followed by Chilopoda (4.51% and 8 species) and Symphyla (0.80% and 1 species). Aporodesmus gabonicus Lucas, 1858 and Karkinikus colonus Attems, 1914 were the most abundant species in the study site. Along the altitudinal gradient, the myriapod species richness decreased in anthropised areas (820 m to 920 m above sea level), reached a maximum in transitional forest (920 m to 1 020 m above sea level) and slightly decreased within the submontane forests (1 020 m to 1 120 m above sea level). Myriapod abundance followed the same trend. However, our results also indicate a high species richness turnover observed between altitudinal levels suggesting that most species are adapted to a particular habitat and could serve as indicators of environmental changes. Accordingly, this study demonstrates a negative relationship between anthropisation and myriapod diversity, as well as the implications towards the management of the Mount Kala forest.

DIVERSITAS SEMUT (Hymenoptera : Formicidae) PADA LAHAN GAMBUT DI DESA KUALA DUA KABUPATEN KUBU RAYA

Secondary peatlands located in Kuala Dua Village, Kubu Raya Regency have various types of insects, one of which dominates is ants. Ants are members of the Order of Hymenoptera which have high diversity and complexity as social animals. Ants play a role in spreading seeds, other insect predators, spore spreaders, decomposers, ecological controllers. Information about the diversity of ants in Kubu Raya Regency is still very limited, especially those on peat land in Kuala Dua Village, Kubu Raya District, therefore research on ant diversity needs to be done with the aim to record the diversity of ants on these peatlands. Laying down the observation path is done intentionally (Purposive sampling). The method used is hand collecting and leaf litter sifting. The results shows that seven genera and four subfamily were obtained. Subfamily found is Formicinae, Ponerinae, Myrmicinae, and Dolichoderinae. The Subfamily Formicinae consists of the genus Camponotus, Colobobsis, Polyrhachis, Anoplolepis. The Ponerinae subfamily consists of the genus Leptogenys. Subfamily Myrmicinae consists of the genus Pheidole. The Dolichoderinae subfamily consists of the genus Ecphorella. The diversity index value on line 1 (1.30) is classified as medium category, line 2 (0.80) is classified as low category and line 3 (0.34) is classified as low category. The abundance index on line 1 (0.80) is classified as high category, line 2 (0.73) is classified as low category, line 3 (0.50) is classified as low category. The similarity index of ant species on line 1 and line 2 are (25%) which classified as low category. Line 1 and 3 are (57.14%) classified as medium category. The similarity index of ant species on line 2 and 3 (40%) were also classified as medium category.Keywords: ants, diversity, Kubu Raya District, peat land.

Group selection harvesting supports diversity of forest specialist carabids

Increased fragmentation and considerable environmental changes in native forests caused by the timber-oriented forest managements are threatening the biodiversity of forests. As a remediation, uneven-aged approach is recommended during forest management, because this is less intensive and could be less harmful than even-aged practices. We tested the effects of clear-cutting (as even-aged method) and group selection harvesting (as uneven-aged method) on carabids in lowland oak forests. Pitfall traps and litter sifting were used during the study. We found that the total number of species was significantly higher in the gaps harvested by group selection and in the clear-cut than in the mature forests (control area). The species richness of forest specialist species was significantly lower in the clear-cuts than in the other area. Our findings demonstrated that the conventional clear-cutting caused a decrease in the number of forest specialist species. Therefore, group selection method should be favoured during forest management to maintain diversity.

KEANEKARAGAMAN SEMUT (Famili Formicidae) PADA LAHAN GAMBUT DI LINGKUNGAN GEDUNG BARU FAKULTAS KEHUTANAN UNIVERSITAS TANJUNGPURA PONTIANAK

Ants have an important role in an ecosystem such as seed spreaders, pollinators, decomposers, and soil growers. Ants can live on peatlands that have acidic pH. The new building of the Faculty of Forestry is an area of peatland where there is one of the fauna, namely ants. The ants in the environment of the Faculty of Forestry’s new biulding are unknown. The research aims to record the types of ants found on peatland in the environment of the new building of the Faculty of Forestry, Tanjungpura University. Takingthe samples of ants was done with sifting hand collecting and leaf litter sifting methods. This study found 4 subfamilies and 7 genera of ants. The subfamilies found were Subfamily Formicinae consisting of the genera Anoplolepis, Camponotus, Echinopla, and Polyrhachis, Subfamily Ponerinae consisting of Genus Diacamma; Subfamily Pseudomyrmecinae consisting of genus Tetraponera; and Subfamily Myrmicinae consisting of the Crematogaster Genus. Diversity index has a value of H ̅ = 1.44 which indicates that the research location has moderate diversity. The overall index of species richness has a DMg value = 5.58 indicating the wealth of ant species is in the high category. Evenness index with a value of 0.73, evenness of ant species is quite even. Keywords: Diversity of ants, Faculty of Forestry, Family Formicidae, Peatlands

Diversity of Pseudoscorpiones (Arthropoda: Arachnida) in two fragments of dry tropical forest in the colombian Caribbean region

The Dry Tropical Forest (DTF) is one of the most diverse yet threatened biomes of Colombia. There is limited information about the richness of the order Pseudoscorpiones (Arachnida) in this ecosystem in the country. Pseudoscorpions are ecologically interesting, as they may be good indicators of habitat conservation. However, it is still necessary to gather more knowledge related to its spatio-temporal variation. In this study, pseudoscorpion diversity variation was assessed in two fragments of the Dry Tropical Forest in the Caribbean region of Colombian: Reserva Campesina La Montaña (RCM) and Reserva La Flecha (RLF). Four samplings were carried out between March and September of 2016 to include the dry and rainy season. Pseudoscorpions were collected using litter sifting (SL) and manual capture (MC). A total of 260 individuals belonging to five families and eight species were collected. The most abundant was Pachyolpium granulatum (Olpiidae) and the richest family was Chernetidae. The collection methods were effective and complementary. Spatial variation was significant, but no temporal variation was observed however, there was a marked difference between the abundance at RCM in the dry season and the rainy season. In contrast, at RLF most individuals were found in the dry season in comparison with the rainy season. These new faunistic data is the first of its order in the Atlántico and Bolívar department.

Diversidad espacial y temporal de arañas en microhábitats de cultivos de Citrus sinensis, (Rutaceae) Corrientes, Argentina

We analyze the distribution of spider assemblages at three microhabitats (canopy, tree trunk and soil) in Citrus sinensis orchards (Rutaceae) in the Province of Corrientes, Argentina. Spiders were collected monthly using four sampling techniques: beating foliage, leaf litter sifting, pitfall traps and direct capture by hand. A total of 2160 samples were examined and 7194 spiders were collected (2462 on the canopy, 983 on trunk and 3749 on the floor) belonging to 34 families and 200 species/morphospecies of Araneomorphae. There were significant differences among microhabitats and months in the structure of the spider communities, according to analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). The diversity was highest on the canopy, followed by soil and tree trunk. Araneidae, Salticidae and Anyphaenidae were the most abundant taxa in the canopy; the dominant species were Jessica erythostoma and Cheiracanthium inclusum, a predator of the leaf herbivore Phyllocnistis citrella (Lepidoptera) a pest of Citrus spp. The most abundant families on the tree trunk were Tetragnathidae, Hersiliidae and Theridiidae, Iviraiva pachyura was a species specialist in such microhabitat; and Leucauge venusta was an opportunistic species, because their abundance increaseds markedly in anthropic environments that modified by man. The most abundant families on the floor were Lycosidae, Linyphiidae and Coriniidae. In this habitat, Lycosa erythrognatha and Pardosa plumipedata were dominant species. The Chao-Jaccard similarity index was highest between the canopy and trunk (J-C=0.95), likewise ordination by nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) revealed strong differentiation between assemblages of soil spiders and canopy and trunk spiders. Also, on the soil the temporary replacement of species was greater and the seriation method was significant (z=3.82, p=0.00) therefore there was a succession of species during the year. The different species in each microhabitat probably avoided competition by using different hunting strategies and different ecological resources, in addition to specific patterns of temporal distribution. Our results suggest that anthropic environments, such as in Citrus orchards, tend to harbor populations of spiders able to adapt to those environments and interact in a balanced way in space and time.

A comparative study of ant diversity under three coverages in a Neotropical coffee landscape

The coffee cultivation has displaced natural vegetation and its associated biological diversity. The present study describes the diversity of ground-dwelling ants on eight plantations where coffee is grown in the shade (SHD), eight plantations where coffee is grown under unshaded coffee (SUN) and four patches of forest (FOS) in a coffee-growing region of Colombia. The research was conducted in transects composed of 12 sampling stations, each of which employed active collection, pitfall traps and litter sifting. Nine habitat variables were analyzed to characterize each site, and these values were related to the diversity of ants and functional groups. A total of 92 morphospecies were collected. Myrmicinae was the subfamily with the highest representation. The sample coverage presented a deficit of less than 5 %. The rank abundance curves exhibited differences in the ant assemblages. The ant communities found in the forest exhibited greater diversity and a larger number of exclusive species than the communities found in locations of other land uses; the SHD and SUN communities were characterized by 80.3 % and 62.3 %, respectively, of the diversity found in the forest communities. The functional similarity index as adapted for guilds by Sørensen reveals a high degree of similarity in the structure of their ant communities, but less so in their composition.The shaded coffee plantations have a richer and more equitable ant fauna than the exposed coffee plantations, reinforcing the idea that shade cultivation favors the establishment of ant fauna and, consequently, ecological functionality.

Arthropod assemblages and functional responses along an urbanization gradient: A trait-based multi-taxa approach

Urbanization causes considerable alteration across a wide range of ecosystem functions at regional and global scales. These changes could be key drivers of habitat stability and ecosystem services in urban greenspaces. The aim of this study was to test the influence of urbanization on taxonomic and functional diversities of arthropods of different trophic levels. We collected predator spiders, polyphagous rove beetles, and decomposer woodlice along a rural-suburban-urban gradient by litter sifting. Neither the taxonomic, nor the functional diversity (Rao’s quadratic entropy) using a morphological trait (body size) and ecological traits (habitat affinity, humidity preference, and disturbance sensitivity) of the spiders were significantly different along the urbanization gradient. For rove beetles, taxonomic diversity was significantly higher in rural sites compared to suburban and urban ones, while functional diversity did not differ significantly between sites. Both the taxonomic and the functional diversities of woodlice were significantly higher in the rural sites than in the suburban or urban sites. Detrended canonical correspondence analysis also showed that urbanization did not cause considerably changes in composition of spider assemblages, while rove beetle and woodlouse assemblages showed clear separation between rural and urban sites. This study pointed out that trophic levels may be a crucial driver of the responses to urbanization. Our results suggest that urbanization has a less harmful effect on predator spiders, as they can easily recolonize the managed urban greenspaces. Contrarily, recolonization of arthropods at lower trophic levels (rove beetles and woodlice) into the urban habitats is considerably restricted.

Comunidades de arañas en dos localidades del sitio RAMSAR Humedales Chaco, Argentina

En este estudio comparamos las comunidades de arañas de bosques y pastizales en la Estancia San Francisco y la Estancia San Carlos; Sitio RAMSAR, Humedales Chaco. Recolectamos los ejemplares de arañas mediante las técnicas de captura golpeteo de follaje, tamizado de hojarasca, captura directa y aspirado del pastizal. Se obtuvieron 1 477 arañas, 34 familias y 261 especies/morfoespecies de Araneomorphae. 18 son nuevos registros para Argentina. Araneidae fue la más abundante en los dos sitios, Araneidae, Theridiidae y Salticidae las de mayor riqueza específica. Las curvas de rango-abundancia marcaron que las comunidades se estructuran de manera diferente en ambos sitios, en cuanto a las abundancias, el tipo de especie dominante, la composición de especies y la proporción de especies raras. La comparación de la diversidad verdadera mostró que el bosque y pastizal de San Carlos fueron más diversos, lo cual podría estar relacionada a la estructura del bosque y a un mayor grado de conservación del mismo. Este estudio mostró una importante riqueza y abundancia de arañas que componen comunidades diferentes en estas áreas del sitio RAMSAR, y sugiere profundizar en investigaciones futuras abarcando otras unidades ambientales de dicho sitio.

Group selection harvesting supports the diversity of epigaeic arthropod assemblages (Coleoptera: Carabidae; Araneidae: Araneae; Isopoda: Oniscidae)

Background and purpose Timber-oriented forest management alters the environmental conditions, threatening the survival of many native and rare arthropod species. Recognition of the scale and effects of the forest loss has resulted in a considerable degree of interest in the reforestation. Nowadays, the uneven-aged management is recommended during the reforestation procedure, because this is less intensive and could be less harmful than even-aged practices. Our aim was to test the effects of clear-cutting (as even-aged method) and group selection harvesting (as uneven-aged method) on forest specialist epigaeic arthropods. Material and methods Epigaeic arthropod assemblages (ground beetles, spiders and woodlice) in gaps harvested by group selection and clear-cuts were compared to those assemblages in windthrow gaps and mature forest stands. Ground beetles, spiders and woodlice were collected by litter sifting. Results The total number of epigaeic arthropod species was significantly higher in the gaps harvested by group selection than in the clear-cuts and the mature forests. The species richness of forest specialist species was significantly lower in the clear-cuts than in the other habitats. Conclusion Our findings demonstrated that the conventional clear-cutting caused a decrease in the number of forest specialist species. Therefore, group selection method should be favoured during forest management to maintain forest arthropods’s diversity. Keywords: clear-felling, diversity, forest practices, litter sifter, reforestation

Shift of rove beetle assemblages in reforestations: Does nativity matter?

Creating plantations after clear-cutting of native forests is a serious risk for biodiversity. Rove beetles were collected by litter sifting in non-native plantations (black locust, Scots pine, red oak), in native oak plantation and mature oak forest as control. We hypothesised that diversity and composition of the rove beetles in the mature forest would be different from those in the plantations. We expected that reforestation with native species would have less harmful effects on rove beetles than reforestation with non-native species. In accordance with our hypotheses the overall number of rove beetle individuals and species, as well as the diversity of hygrophilous and decaying material dependent rove beetles were significantly lower in the plantations than in the mature oak forest. However, the overall species richness and the diversity of hygrophilous and decaying material dependent rove beetles were significantly higher in the native plantation compared to the non-native ones. There was no significant correlation between the diversity of these rove beetles and the soil moisture and decaying woody materials as limiting resources; thus, our study did not support the resource quantity hypothesis. The cover of herbs and shrubs, the soil temperature and soil pH were the most important factors controlling the diversity of rove beetles. Our results suggest that reforestation with native tree species provides more suitable habitat for rove beetles than non-native ones. However, it seems that rove beetle assemblages did not recover even after 40 years of reforestation with native tree species due to their specific ecological demands.

Different collecting methods reveal different ecological groups of centipedes (Chilopoda)

Soil invertebrates are studied by a number of methods. Here we used zoological methods (soil sampling, pitfall trapping, litter sifting, and hand collecting) to sample centipede communities in four floodplain forests (Czech Republic, Europe) and compared the efficiency of these methods. Heat-extraction from soil samples was the most effective, followed by pitfall trapping. The centipedes found by us can be divided into five ecological groups: 1) larger, abundant lithobiomorphs, 2) larger, scarcer lithobiomorphs, 3) smaller, soil lithobiomorphs, 4) abundant geophilomorphs, and 5) scarcer geophilomorphs.

Identifying Shifts in Leaf-Litter Ant Assemblages (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) across Ecosystem Boundaries Using Multiple Sampling Methods.

Global or regional environmental changes in climate or land use have been increasingly implied in shifts in boundaries (ecotones) between adjacent ecosystems such as beech or oak-dominated forests and forest-steppe ecotones that frequently co-occur near the southern range limits of deciduous forest biome in Europe. Yet, our ability to detect changes in biological communities across these ecosystems, or to understand their environmental drivers, can be hampered when different sampling methods are required to characterize biological communities of the adjacent but ecologically different ecosystems. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) have been shown to be particularly sensitive to changes in temperature and vegetation and they require different sampling methods in closed vs. open habitats. We compared ant assemblages of closed-forests (beech- or oak-dominated) and open forest-steppe habitats in southwestern Carpathians using methods for closed-forest (litter sifting) and open habitats (pitfall trapping), and developed an integrated sampling approach to characterize changes in ant assemblages across these adjacent ecosystems. Using both methods, we collected 5,328 individual ant workers from 28 species. Neither method represented ant communities completely, but pitfall trapping accounted for more species (24) than litter sifting (16). Although pitfall trapping characterized differences in species richness and composition among the ecosystems better, with beech forest being most species poor and ecotone most species rich, litter sifting was more successful in identifying characteristic litter-dwelling species in oak-dominated forest. The integrated sampling approach using both methods yielded more accurate characterization of species richness and composition, and particularly so in species-rich forest-steppe habitat where the combined sample identified significantly higher number of species compared to either of the two methods on their own. Thus, an integrated sampling approach should be used to fully characterize changes in ant assemblages across ecosystem boundaries, or with vegetation change over time, and particularly so in species-rich habitats such as forest-steppe ecotones.

Diversity of non-acarine arachnids of the Ophathe Game Reserve, South Africa: Testing a rapid sampling protocol

As part of the second phase of the South African National Survey of Arachnida (SANSA), field surveys were conducted in many degree-square grids throughout the country using a standardised rapid sampling protocol. This study reports on the arachnid diversity of the Ophathe Game Reserve (OGR) in northern KwaZulu-Natal, as found during a preliminary survey in June 2007 (mid winter) and a SANSA field survey in October 2008 (mid spring) in four representative habitats. The SANSA survey included seven sampling methods: pitfalls, beating, sweep-netting, litter sifting, hand collecting, night collecting and Winkler traps. A total of 282 species in six arachnid orders were collected during the two surveys, of which spiders were the most species-rich order (268 species in 47 families). The SANSA survey yielded 966 adult arachnids, representing six orders and 197 species, with a further 67 species represented only by immatures. Although adult arachnid abundance (n) differed considerably between the four habitats (range: 156–321), adult species richness (Sobs) was less variable (range: 65–85). These survey results are comparable with several longer-term surveys in the Savanna biome, and indicate that the SANSA sampling protocol can yield an impressive diversity of arachnids during a relatively short period of sampling, with a high level of coverage (> 0.8 for sites and most sampling methods) and moderate levels of sample completion for adults (> 0.55 for all sites), despite logistical and temporal challenges. Additional repetitions of the SANSA sampling protocol in other seasons will likely increase biodiversity knowledge of arachnids in OGR considerably.Conservation implications: The implementation of rapid sampling protocols in an atlas project is essential to generate a large volume of species-level data. The SANSA protocol is an efficient means for rapidly generating arachnid data, and in future will allow for an assessment of diversity patterns in degree-square grids across South Africa.