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VOL. 10, ISSUE 8 (2025)
Faunal diversity of Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) with a new record for India in Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary, West Bengal
Authors
Md Reaz Mondal, Shuvadeep Sen, Arka Kumar Akuli, Somnath Mandal
Abstract
Chintamoni Kar Bird Sanctuary [CKBS] is the
only legally protected habitat on the west bank of Adi-Ganga River amidst a
rapidly urbanizing landscape adjacent to Kolkata metropolis supporting a rich
insect diversity along with local flora, fauna and migratory bird species. The
present work on spider diversity in CKBS, documented 33 species belonging to 29
genera across 10 families. The most notable finding was Philoponella
prominens (Bosenberg & Strand, 1906), a kleptoparasitic species on
Cyrtophora cycatrosa (Stoliczka, 1869),
as it was documented for the first time from India and West Bengal additional
to its known distribution range of China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan. The most
abundant families were Salticidae and Araneadae with 10 and 9 species
respectively followed by Uloboridae with 4 species, Theridiidae with 3species,
Oxyopidae with 2 species. The families Corinnidae, Lycosidae, Pholcidea,
Tetragnathidae and Sparassidae were represented by one species each. Genera
wise the family Salticidae was most diverse. Guild structure analysis revealed
that 43% species were orb-web weavers, while, 30% were stalkers of which only
one species, Myrmarachne
melanocephala Macleay, 1839, was found as batasian mimic of ants. Other guilds were
scattered line weavers (12%), foliage runner (6%), Ambush hunter (6%) and
Ground runner (3%). This report providing present status of spider diversity
along with guild structure in CKBS may help in developing conservation
strategies and further research in future.
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Pages:54-62
How to cite this article:
Md Reaz Mondal, Shuvadeep Sen, Arka Kumar Akuli, Somnath Mandal "Faunal diversity of Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) with a new record for India in Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary, West Bengal". International Journal of Entomology Research, Vol 10, Issue 8, 2025, Pages 54-62
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