The Role of the Southeastern European Mountains as Cradles and Corridors of European Biodiversity: Insights From Agelenid Spiders

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  The Role of the Southeastern European Mountains as Cradles and Corridors of European Biodiversity: Insights From Agelenid Spiders ABSTRACT Aim The Southeastern European Mountain System (SEEMS) is a well-known glacial refugium for European fauna. Bridging the Mediterranean and Caucasus biodiversity hotspots, it is a melting point for diverse faunal elements, but also a center of origin and subsequent dispersal of a unique component of European biodiversity. Here, we tested the hypothesis of the Southeastern European origin of the agelenid spider genera Inermocoelotes and Urocoras by investigating their phylogeny and biogeography. Location Southeastern Europe (the Balkans, Carpathians, Dinarides), Central/Western Europe, and the Mediterranean basin. Taxon Funnel-web spiders, the genera Inermocoelotes and Urocoras (Araneae: Agelenidae: Coelotinae). Methods We performed molecular phylogenetic analyses, divergence time estimation, and ancestral area reconstruction. To investigate ...

Coming Soon to a Cellar Near You: Novel Range Expansion of a Short-Bodied Cellar Spider, Physocyclus enaulus (Araneae: Pholcidae), in a Building in Central Illinois, USA

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Coming Soon to a Cellar Near You: Novel Range Expansion of a Short-Bodied Cellar Spider, Physocyclus enaulus (Araneae: Pholcidae), in a Building in Central Illinois, USA

Abstract


A reproductive population of Physocyclus enaulus Crosby, 1926 (Pholcidae: Araneae), a short-bodied cellar spider native to the American southwest and Mexico, is documented for the first time in a single building in Illinois, far outside of their known native range. The means of introduction is unknown but is likely influenced by either accidental hitchhiking spiders or a deliberate introduction to control brown recluse populations. Cellar spiders were purchased and released in the same building to predate on brown recluse spiders, but the first P. enaulus individual was found a year prior to the release. These cellar spiders have a wide-ranging diet and eat both native and other introduced species, and P. enaulus may pose a threat to native ecosystems if they spread beyond their current location.


Gieser, Ricky and Davis, Mark 2026. "Coming Soon to a Cellar Near You: Novel Range Expansion of a Short-Bodied Cellar Spider, Physocyclus enaulus (Araneae: Pholcidae), in a Building in Central Illinois, USA," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 59 (1)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22543/0090-0222.2623 Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol59/iss1/14