New Database Version 02.2022

After about one and a half years it is about time for a new database update. Here it is!

A new feature in the checklists is the possibility to call checklists for certain regions and not only countries, e.g. Abkhazia, North Caucasus and South Ossetia now. Let me know if you want to see more specific regions or areas there, like protected areas for example: Lagodekhi National Park. Also, country and region checklists are now structured just as the Caucasus Checklist, meaning the checklist includes only species with verified status and a Blacklist below with the species of doubtful status.

Other changes include fixed mistakes, e.g. correctly linking Microdipoena jobi to Mysmenidae and updated taxonomy (e.g. in Agelescape, Persiscape). Thanks to Theo Blick, Yuri Marusik, Dmitri Logunov and others for pointing this out to me. It helps a lot!

As always: Please keep informing me about newly published or older literature which needs to be included in the database and point out any mistakes you found. I appreciate it very much!

The following updates to species records have been made in version 02.2022:

Marusik & Zonstein (2021): description of Raveniola ambardzumanyani from Armenia
Esyunin (2017) made available some specimen data collected by Dmitri Kharitonov, among this females of Dictyna ottoi from Georgia.
Ponomarev & Komarov (2015) provided lots of species records of spiders from South Ossetia, including some first species records for the Caucasus database here: Hahnia helveola, Pardosa consimilis, Pardosa inquilina, Neottiura suaveolens, Ozyptila spirembola.
All records of Ozyptila lugubris (Kroneberg, 1875) in the Caucasus are linked to Xysticus tuberosus (Thorell, 1875) now (see Marusik & Mikhailov, 2021).
Logunov & Ponomarev (2020) updated information on fossorial lycosids in the Caucasus, therefore Hogna bergsoei is of doubtful status and now listed on the Blacklist only. Records of Hogna/Lycosa alticeps actually belong to Karakumosa shmatkoi.
Information on records in Schmidt (1895) is corrected, e.g. information on Lycosa alticeps (see above) and the actual location of „Aresch“ mentioned. Also the PDF is finally added.
Prószyński (2017) removed Attulus vilis from synonymy with A. ammophilus and reported A. vilis from Armenia. Since both species are extremely similar to one another, especially the males, this raises the question of the species identity of the A. ammophilus records in the Caucasus. Until this is resolved in a revision of the Caucasian records, both „species“ are treated here under A. ammophilus.
Zarikian (2020) added a number of salticid species to the Checklist Armenia and one species to the Checklist Caucasus: Afraflacilla epiblemoides.
Mikhailov & Propistsova (2017) recorded a number of species from Armenia, among them a first record for the Caucasus: Pellenes arciger.
Dimitrov (2020) described and recorded Proislandiana beroni from Turkey and Armenia.
Tanasevitch et al. (2016) described two new species of linyphids from Adygea and Georgia: Asthenargus adygeicus and Maculoncus obscurus.
Ponomarev & Shmatko (2019) updated information on Zelotes species in the Caucasus
Ponomarev & Shmatko (2020) added new records for species in the genera Trachyzelotes and Marinarozelotes.
Khasayeva & Huseynov (2019) recorded a number of species from Azerbaijan, among them the first record of Pseudicius palaestinensis for the Caucasus.
Ponomarev et al. (2019): recorded Synaphosus shirin and Holocnemus pluchei for the first time in the Caucasus

New Database Version 10.2020

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The database has been updated. Please keep sending new papers and information on spider records in the Caucasus!

The record of Zora spinimana in Lagodekhi by Otto & Japoshvili (2018) was erroneosly linked to Zoropsis spinimana. This is fixed now (thanks to Armen Seropian for pointing it out!)
Mikhailov (2016) added records of species which are now regarded as Micaria sociabilis and Micaria zonsteini.
Zamani et al. (2020) synonymized Araniella tbilisiensis (Mcheidze, 1997) with A. opisthographa and reported Neoscona theisi from Dagestan and Georgia.
Ponomarev et al. (2017) added 354 records of 218 species to the database. Additions to the Caucasus Checklist are Zelotes eugenei, Z. prishutovae, Z. tenuis, Erigonoplus spinifemuralis, Styloctetor compar, Aelurillus laniger, Heliophanus koktas, Ozyptila simplex and Zodarion rubidum.
13 records from Titova & Egorova (1978) (as cited from Ponomarev et al. (2017)

New Database Version 03.2020

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*Amaurobius caucasicus* from Lagodekhi National Park

New records from several publications have been added to the database …

Marusik & Azarkina (2016) added new records of Xysticus spasskyi
Ponomarev et al. (2019) added 400+ records for spiders species in Dagestan, including first records for the Caucasus Ecoregion (Pholcus sogdianae, Phlegra lineata, Berlandina saraevi)
Marusik et al. (2020) added the new species Amaurobius caucasicus Marusik, Otto & Japoshvili 2020 from Lagodekhi National Park and a record of Amaurobius antipovae from Adler (Krasnodar)

The distribution maps for each species have been slightly improved, e. g. the diagram displaying the altitudinal distribution now displays all record points. This should make the statistics more comprehensible. R programming is fun!

As always, please send me citations or even better, PDF files, of publications which need to be added to the database!

All the best, Stefan

New Database Version 10.2019

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The following updates have been made in Version 10.2019:

All maps have been rendered new and now include a diagram with the altitude range of the species
Filistata lehtineni has been added to the database and records of F. insidiatrix have been updated based on Marusik & Zonstein (2014).
Pritha pallida is reported new for Georgia by Marusik et al. (2019).

New Database Version 09.2019

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In this update I reviewed all 1100+ species in the Caucasus Checklist and updated some 50+ links to and from araneae.unibe (with the help of Daniel Gloor!).

Additionally, I updated the taxonomy (nomenclature), synonyms and misidentifications. Changes include: Harpactea sturanyi, Ermetus koreanus, Microdipoena jobi, Agyneta simplicitarsis, A. mollis, A. mesasiatica, A. rurestris, A. saxatilis, Zygiella montana, Leviellus stroemi, Alopecosa farinosa, Bogdocosa kronebergi, Halocosa cereipes, Lycosa tarantula, Piratula hurkai, Eratigena picta, Tegenaria lenkoranica, T. lehtineni, T. nakhchivanica, T. pseudolyncea, T. lyncea, Brigittea varians, Titanoeca spominima, Porrhoclubiona vegeta, P. genevensis, Leptopilus memorialis, Zelotes fuscus, Civizelotes gracilis, C. caucasius, Rhysodromus rikhteri, Rh. naxcivanicus, Tmarus punctatissimus, Bassaniodes caperatus, B. graecus, B. adzharicus, B. cribratus, B. robustus, B. tristrami, Bassaniana baudueri, Spiracme striatipes, Psammitis sabulosus, P. ninnii, Attulus distinguendus, Carrhotus xanthogramma, Plexippus strandi, P. devorans, P. setipes, Rudakius cinctus, Calositticus pulchellus, C. caricis, C. zimmermanni, C. rupicola, C. inexpectus, C. floricola, Hypositticus pubescens, H. relictarius, Marusyllus mongolicus, Pseudomogrus caspicus, P. vittatus, P. albocinctus

Also, a number of genera have been moved to other families, including: Argyroneta → Dictynidae; Cryphoeca, Tuberta → Cybaeidae; Mastigusa → Hahniidae; Pireneitega → Agelenidae; Cheiracanthium → Cheiracanthiidae; Zora → Miturgidae; Cetonana, Orthobula, Trachelas → Trachelidae

Citation: Otto, S. (2019): Caucasian Spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus. Version 09.2019 Internet: https://caucasus-spiders.info/

Upcoming updates are planned to include newly compiled distribution maps and new occurrence data (records) from recently published articles about spiders in the Caucasus. If you know of any publication not yet included in the database, let me know!

New Database Version 8.2018

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All distribution maps are updated in Version 8.2018.

Version 8.2018 of the Caucasian Spiders Database now contains the records of a number of old and new publications:

1. Zonstein et al. (2018) revised the genus Raveniola in the Caucasus,

2. Otto & Japoshvili (2018) updated the checklist of spiders in Lagodekhi,

3. Shafaie et al. (2018): added a number of records for Pardosa colchica and P. pontica in Azerbaijan,

4. Dunin (1988) recorded a number of mygalomorphic spiders,

5. Spassky (1937) described a mygalomorphic spider species from the Caucaus.

6. A number of species of Dictynidae were studied by Marusik et al. (2015), Marusik & Koponen (2017) and Marusik et al. (2017),

8. All records of Hyptiotes gerhardti revalidated and all records of H. paradoxus and H. flavidus from NW-coast of the Black Sea attributed to this species, cf. Wiehle (1964), Wunderlich (2008) and Wunderlich (2017),

9. One record from a cave survey in Abkhazia by Ljovushkin (1966),

10. Some taxonomic changes, e.g. in the families Salticidae (e.g. genera Sittiflor, Sittipub etc.) and in Thomisidae (genus Bassaniana).

New Link Page

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There is a new link page in Publications>Links. Did I miss any relevant pages or projects on Caucasian spiders, insects and other biodiversity? Any study groups working on Caucasian invertebrates? Let me know!

Database Version 08.2017

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Starting now in August 2017, the database will be updated in shorter intervalls with versionnumbers giving month and year, e.g. 08.2017. This should allow (and motivate) me to work on the database more often, not only in a bulk action every two years or so.

Version 08.2017 includes the newly described Clubiona caucasica Mikhailov & Otto, 2017 in the checklist Caucasus and excludes Clubiona caerulescens L. Koch, 1867, which can easily be confused with C. caucasica and has not yet actually been recorded from the Caucasus.

View all records of the new species and download the PDF from here.

Database Update (Version 1.4.3)

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Density of spider records in the Caucasus Ecoregion; gray: no records within 25-km-radius; white: 1 record; darkest red: 308 records. Read more …

Version 1.4.3 of the Caucasian Spider Database includes 13321 records of 1107 spider species, destilling the information distributed across 275 publications with occurrence data of spiders in the Caucaus Ecoregion.

Citation: Otto, S. (2015): Caucasian Spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus. Version 1.4.3 Internet: http://caucasus-spiders.info/

New features on these pages include:

A Commented Checklist of the Spider Species (Araneae) in the Caucasus Ecoregion (also available as PDF),
Redesigned species datasheets with new record maps, information on altitudinal distribution and abundance status,
The new Genus pages listing all species within a genus according to their abundance and with links to the pages of Araneae – Spiders of Europe. This feature should make determination somewhat easier,
A record density plot (see above) showing relatively well visited regions and regions with few or no spider records at all (gray and white areas in the plot). More information on spider diversity patterns is given in the pages on landscape & habitat diversity and species diversity patterns.

New content in the database includes:

Utochkin (1968) with descriptions of three species: Xysticus caspicus, X. spasskyi (= X. umbrinus), X. ukrainicus.
Mikhailova & Mikhailov (2002) with a number of records on the Lycosidae of the northern macroslope of the Caucasus Major
Marusik et al. (2003) on P. azerifalcata and P. jergeniensis
Kovblyuk & Marusik (2012) on Robertus golovatchi
Ponomarev & Komarov (2013) on the spider fauna of North Ossetia-Alania added 637 records, including first records for the Caucasus for Porrhomma campbelli, Tiso vagans, Troxochrus scabriculus, Pardosa albatula, Ero cambridgei, Enoplognatha tecta, Theridium mystaceum, Ozyptila claveata, Titanoeca psammophila and possibly Gnaphosa reikhardi.
Triliskauskas & Komarov (2013) with 21 records of orb-web spiders in North Ossetia
Ponomarev & Abdurakhmanov (2014) with 107 records of spider species on the Caspian Coast of Dagestan
Ponomarev & Chumachenko (2014) with 107 records of spider species, including the first record of Palludiphantes pillichi in the Caucasus
Martinovchenko & Mikhailov (2014) with 210 records of spiders in Teberda Reserve with five first records in the Caucasus Ecoregion: Agyneta simplicitarsis, Alopecosa fabrilis, Thanatus striatus, Zora alpina and Zora manicata.
Barjadze et al. (2015) with records of 13 species from caves in Georgian Karst Caves
Otto & Tanasevitch (2015) with the description of Incestophantes shetekaurii from Assa Valley

Database Update (Version 1.4.2)

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Spider diversity model for the Caucasus Ecoregion (Chaladze et al. 2014)

The records of some more publications are now in the database, raising the total number of original records in the database to 12119. Now, 1110 species are in the Checklist Caucasus and 27 species are in the newly introduced Blacklist Caucasus (details see below).

List of new record data in database version 1.4.2:

Dunin (1982) on Dysdera concinna
Tanasevitch (1986) on two linyphiid species
Dunin & Mamedov (1992) on 127 species in an ecological study on spiders in cotton fields in Mugan Steppe (Azerbaijan)
Ovtsharenko et al. (1994) on Synaphosus palearcticus
Dunin (1998) with an ecological study on the altitudinal zonation of 259 species in NW Azerbaijan
Ovtsharenko et al. (1995) on Parasyrisca species from the North Caucasus
Logunov (1998) on Pseudeuophrys species
Guseinov (2004) on the hunting behavior of the salticid Menemerus semilimbatus
Guseinov et al. (2004) on the ecology of Cyrba algerina
Guseinov (2006) on the prey of Heliophanus dunini
Ponomarev & Khatshikov (2009) with 75 records of spiders from Bolshoi Utrish in the NW Caucasus
Tanasevitch (2010) on Tenuiphantes teberdaensis
Ponomarev et al. (2012) with 353 records in Adygea
Kovblyuk et al. (2013), describing the gnaphosid Shaitan elchini from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan
Ponomarev & Volkova (2013) with 154 records from the Abrau Peninsula in the NW Caucasus
Chaladze et al. (2014) calculated a first model of spider diversity in the Cauasus Ecoregion (meta study from the database, no new records)

You can find a link to the dump of the SQL database on the FAQ page.

Next to database updates, a number of changes aim at increasing accessibility of the content:

The Checklist Caucasus now contains only valid species with undoubtful records. Therefore, it is called: Critical and Commented Checklist of Spiders (Araneae) in the Caucasus Ecoregion (link).

In order to maximize availability of data and to facilitate accessibility to all – even doubtful or false records existing in the literature – a Blacklist Caucasus (link) is introduced and situated below the actual checklist – listing those species, which due to doubtful records in the Caucasus or invalid taxonomic status should not be part of the checklist sensu stricto. This blacklist can, however, be of interest to taxonomists when in search of literature sources concerning such questionable species or misidentifications.

Furthermore, all entries on the the publications page now have links to BibTeX citations (I am still working on PDF uploads) and all locations have been checked for double entries.

So, enjoy browsing!