Refining the establishment of guilds in Neotropical spiders (Arachnida: Araneae)

Abstract

We present a refinement in the establishment of guilds in Neotropical spiders based on information assessed by assigning different levels of taxa identification, which allowed better descriptions of spiders' ecological diversities. The analyzed data were compiled from three inventories carried out in the States of Amazonas, Piauí and Paraíba, Brazil, representing three Neotropical biomes, Amazonia, Cerrado and Atlantic Forest. The natural history data were summarized in three dendrograms and 11 guilds are proposed. Owing to the great diversity of lifestyles among species into Corinnidae, Ctenidae, Miturgidae, Salticidae, Sicariidae and Theraphosidae, these families were divided into subgroups for the first time. The identification to sub-family level solved most of the problems in the guild establishment for Theraphosidae, Dipluridae, Miturgidae and Sicariidae. Owing to poor taxonomic and ecological knowledge, Salticidae was divided based on collecting method and taxonomic information, whereas Corinnidae, Ctenidae, Lycosidae and Pisauridae required identification to genus for more refined breakdowns.

Keywords:

• assemblage guilds
• guild establishment
• Amazonia
• Cerrado
• Atlantic Forest

Acknowledgements

This paper is in honour of José Augusto Pereira Barreiros (in memoriam), our friend and colleague, who inspired and stimulated us to work with spider guilds.

This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico – CNPq (SCD Ph.D. grant, LSC M.Sc. grant, ABB PQ grant #303591/2006-3, ADB PQ grant #301776/2004-0) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (ADB #99/05446-8). This work is part of BIOTA/FAPESP – The Biodiversity Virtual Institute Program (www.biota.org.br), Programa de Pesquisas Ecológicas de Longa Duração (Sítio 10, Sítio ECOCEM, MCT/CNPq #521131/2001-4) and Rede CTPetro Amazônia – Fundo Setorial do Petróleo (FINEP/CNPq/ PETROBRAS). This work is part of LSC MSc dissertation and SCD PhD thesis. The authors would like to thank to Dr Soeren Toft for comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.