干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

We studied the spider fauna of Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge on six collecting expeditious during October 2004-August 2005. Spiders collected during these field trips produced >= 81 species in 60 genera and 26 families. Faunal diversity was dominated by Salticidae (>= 13 species in seven genera), followed by Lycosidae (eight species in seven genera), Araneidae (eight species in seven genera), Gnaphosidae (seven species in seven genera), and Philodromidae (from species in four genera), with Thomisidae, Linyphiidae, Dictynidae, Theridiidae, Miturgidae, Pholcidae, and Tetragnathidae represented by two to seven species in one to three genera each. A total of 14 other families was represented by single species in single genera. The family Lycosidae was at more sites than ally other family and it. was the family with the largest number of individuals collected. We report an overall landscape-based density of species of only 0.96 species/km(2) and, although 45.7% of species were represented by single specimens, we conclude that the fauna is depauperate. This is consistent with other low-elevation desert and playa-dominated habitats in North America, and might be attributable to limited formation of soil.