Broad-Scale Climatic Gradients Drive Multiple Facets of Scorpion Beta Diversity in Northeastern Brazil

Posted by
  Broad-Scale Climatic Gradients Drive Multiple Facets of Scorpion Beta Diversity in Northeastern Brazil ABSTRACT Aim Beta diversity analyses clarify mechanisms structuring ecological communities, but their multidimensional facets remain poorly explored in arthropods. Here, we quantified taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional beta diversity in scorpions, partitioned these facets into species replacement and richness differences, and evaluated the relative importance of spatial structure and environmental conditions in driving community assembly. Location Northeastern Brazil, South America. Taxon Scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Methods Taxonomic beta diversity was estimated using species presence across 70 sites in northeastern Brazil. Phylogenetic turnover was calculated from a multi-locus molecular tree, and functional beta diversity was derived from morphometric and ecological traits. All beta diversity facets were decomposed into replacement and richness-difference component...

Arachnological biosecurity on one of the world’s most remote inhabited islands: a checklist of stowaway spiders found on Saint Helena, South Atlantic Ocean

Posted by

 


Arachnological biosecurity on one of the world’s most remote inhabited islands: a checklist of stowaway spiders found on Saint Helena, South Atlantic Ocean

Abstract
An annotated checklist of non-native spiders intercepted by biosecurity staff of the Agriculture & Natural Resources Division (ANRD) of the Saint Helena Government is presented, along with a complete list of all other known stowaway specimens examined by us in other collections. As a consequence, Araneus quadratus Clerck, 1757 and Neoscona rapta (Thorell, 1899) and four generic-level taxa are newly recorded for the list of Saint Helenian spiders. Five morphospecies, including one that constituted a new genus record, are newly reported (Clubiona sp., Crossopriza sp., Palystes sp., Physocyclus sp., and Zenodorus sp.). Palystes sp. also represents the first record of the family Sparassidae Bertkau, 1872 for Saint Helena. One further record of a previously known species, Steatoda nobilis (Thorell, 1875), is made from a specimen recently intercepted in an inbound parcel in 2024. Finally, a list of additional immature specimens, unidentifiable below the family level but nonetheless examined for this work, are presented to complete the catalogue of specimens in the ANRD collections. The total number of spider families recognised on the island raises to 33 and valid genera and species (i.e. excluding undetermined morphospecies) to 92 and 116, respectively.

As always, a special thanks to Danni Sherwood for providing me with this manuscript via ResearchGate

Sherwood, Danniella & Fowler, Liza. (2025). Arachnological biosecurity on one of the world’s most remote inhabited islands: a checklist of stowaway spiders found on Saint Helena, South Atlantic Ocean. Natura Somogyiensis. 45. 57-68. 10.24394/NatSom.2025.45.57.