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Conservation status of the only representative of infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae) in cultivated regions of Central Europe

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An Erratum to this article was published on 10 September 2014

Abstract

Purse-web spiders Atypus spp. (Araneae: Atypidae) are the only representatives of the archaic spider infraorder Mygalomorphae in the Central European fauna. These burrow-dwelling spiders are red-listed in all Central European countries. Atypus muralis occurs on relics of continental steppes, Atypus piceus on dry submediterranean grassland and dry herb-rich forest fringes, while Atypus affinis inhabits sparse dwarf dry forests, usually those dominated by oaks. Long-term sustainability of their habitats in the relatively humid Central European climate was maintained by grazing. Since the 1950s, pasturing was terminated across most of Central Europe, which led to immediate overgrowth of pastures by aggressive grasses and woody plants. Grazing was later reinstated in some reserves, but in cases of poorly controlled grazing intensity, footsteps had immediate detrimental effects on the residual populations of purse-web spiders and other invertebrates. Therefore, grazing intensity needs to be regulated, considering its double-edge effects on the biota of xerothermophilic habitats. Nests of European Atypus species have never been found in habitats subject to recent or even regular distribution. Therefore, they may serve as reliable indicators of well preserved xerothermic habitats. Their nests are easy to detect, and the European Atypus spiders can be utilized as model species for monitoring impacts of conservation management. Monitoring population dynamics of Atypus requires establishing permanent study plots of uniform size, documentation of vegetation by phytocenological relevé, counting their density (number of purse-webs found in the plot) and age structure (diameter of purse webs).

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Acknowledgments

We thank Pavel Mudra, Milan Chytrý and Jørgen Lissner for the provision of photographs, Lucie Kratochvílová, Zdeněk Kučera and Jan Zárybnický from the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic for the data about habitats in the Czech Republic, Tomáš Klouček for help with the distribution maps, and Marie Luise Schmidt for corrections of the manuscript. This study was supported by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic (Grant MZe RO0414).

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  1. Biodiversity Lab, Crop Research Institute, Drnovská 507, 161 06, Prague 6-Ruzyně, Czech Republic

    Milan Řezáč

  2. Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Ruská 87, 100 00, Prague 10, Czech Republic

    Petr Heneberg

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Řezáč, M., Heneberg, P. Conservation status of the only representative of infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae) in cultivated regions of Central Europe. J Insect Conserv 18, 523–537 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-014-9668-y

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