Tropical rain forest fragmentation affects biotic interactions in distinct ways. Little is known, however, about how fragmentation affects animal trophic guilds and their patterns of interactions with host plants. In this study, we analyzed changes in biotic interactions in forest fragments by using a multitrophic approach. For this, we classified arthropods associated with Heliconia aurantiaca herbs into broad trophic guilds (omnivores, herbivores and predators) and assessed the topological structure of intrapopulation plant-arthropod networks in fragments and continuous forests. Habitat type influenced arthropod species abundance, diversity and composition with greater abundance in fragments but greater diversity in continuous forest. According to trophic guilds, coleopteran herbivores were more abundant in continuous forest and overall omnivores in fragments. Continuous forest showed a greater diversity of interactions than fragments. Only in fragments, however, did the arthropod community associated with H aurantiaca show a nested structure, suggesting novel and/or opportunistic host-arthropod associations. Plants, omnivores and predators contributed more to nestedness than herbivores. Therefore, Heliconia-arthropod network properties do not appear to be maintained in fragments mainly caused by the decrease of herbivores. Our study contributes to the understanding of the impact of fragmentation on the structure and dynamics of multitrophic arthropod communities associated with a particular plant species of the highly biodiverse tropical forests. Nevertheless, further replication of study sites is needed to strengthen the conclusion that forest fragmentation negatively affects arthropod assemblages.

The monophyly of Spintharinae is supported in agreement with previous analysis of Theridiidae by Agnarsson and Arnedo et al. We study the relationships of the genera within Spintharinae. Fourteen species in the genera Chrosiothes, Episinus, Spintharus, Stemmops, and Thwaitesia constituted the ingroup, while five species from the genera Euryopis and Dipoena (Hadrotarsinae), as well as Latrodectus and Steatoda (Latrodectinae), served as outgroup taxa. The character matrix included 49 morphological characters. Parsimony analyses using several character weighting strategies supported the monophyly of Spintharinae with Stemmops as sister to a clade that includes the remaining ingroup taxa. Chrosiothes emerged as sister to Episinus + Spintharus + Thwaitesia which formed a polytomy. The equally weighted, successive weighted, and preferred implied weight topologies, were all logically consistent. A key to the genera of Spintharinae and diagnoses for each genus are given.

Human activities change the biodiversity of ecological communities in at least three dimensions: ecologically, taxonomically and functionally. Gathering information on these three dimensions allows the improvement of biodiversity assessments and the increased understanding of anthropogenic impact on natural communities. In this study, we analysed the spider community associated with the tropical plant Heliconia aurantiaca in two contrasting habitat types: continuous forest and forest fragments in south-eastern Mexico. We examined the foliage, stems and bracts of H. aurantiaca individuals in both habitats. We categorized each spider species according to its behavioural and functional traits. We analysed ecological diversity using Hill numbers, taxonomic distinctness and functional diversity using the FRic index. Overall, we collected a total of 110 spiders, of which 44 individuals from 29 species were found in continuous forests, with 66 individuals from 36 species in forest fragments. We found greater ecological diversity in continuous forest than in fragments. In contrast, we found lower functional diversity in continuous forest than in fragments. Taxonomic diversity showed no significant difference between habitats. Forest fragmentation affected the biodiversity of spiders by disrupting species composition and function, which may lead to other ecological changes such as predator–prey interactions and other aspects of ecosystem functioning.

The family Anyphaenidae is composed by 56 genera and 542 species worldwide (World Spider Catalog 2015). These spiders, known as "ghost spiders", are wandering hunters living in a variety of environments, from forests to deserts, and can be quite abundant in different crops such as cotton, sorghum and rice (Brescovit 1996; Young & Edwards 1990; Taylor & Pfannenstiel 2008). They typically live on vegetation, among dead leaves or under loose bark and rocks (Richman & Ubick 2005) but synanthropic associations have been reported for a few species (Jiménez 1998; Guarisco 1999; Durán-Barrón et al. 2009). The genus Anyphaena has 81 species widely distributed in Asia, Central Europe, North America and Mexico (Brescovit 1996; Richman & Ubick 2005; World Spider Catalog 2015). The species from Noth America and Mexico were revised by Platnick (1974) who recognized four species groups (accentuata, celer, pectorosa and pacifica). Platnick (1977), Platnick & Lau (1975) and Brescovit & Lise (1989) complemented the revision of the genus in Central America. Presently, there are 27 species of Anyphaena recorded in Mexico (World Spider Catalog 2015), 24 of them from the celer group. Here, two new species of Anyphaena are described based in material collected during an inventory of spiders associated to houses in Mexico City, carried out by Durán-Barrón et al. (2009). Both species have the diagnostic characters of the members of the pacifica group as defined by Platnick (1974), such as the lack of leg coxal spurs and the presence of a lightly sclerotized atrium in the female epigynum. These species represent the first record of the pacifica group in Mexico. The occurrence of Anyphaenidae associated to houses was reported in Mexico by Durán-Barrón et al. (2009), who recorded Anyphaena obregon Platnick & Lau, 1975 and Hibana futilis (Banks, 1898) as frequent inhabitants inside houses. The species herein described are reported solely from urban areas and can be also characterized as frequent in these anthropic environments.