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!