First records of Anagraphis ochracea (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) for continental Italy and Sicily with new observations on its myrmecophilous lifestyle

Abstract

In the present study we describe and discuss for the first time the peculiar myrmecophilous habits of Anagraphis ochracea (L. Koch, 1867) and its strong association with the ant species Messor ibericus Santschi, 1931. The study is based on behavioural observations carried out both in the field and in captivity, and sheds light on the lifestyle of this poorly studied and rarely observed species. We also recorded the presence of A. ochracea on continental Italy and Sicily for the first time; provide a brief overview of its taxonomical history and present photographs of adult and juvenile specimens, the egg sac and the copulatory organs of both sexes. Finally, we provide a DNA-barcode (COI) for A. ochracea, which is the first for the genus Anagraphis as well.

First record of the genus Thyreosthenius (Araneae: Linyphiidae) from the Iberian Peninsula with notes on the host preference of the myrmecophilic T. biovatus

“…Its presence in Spain probably went unnoticed due to its myrmecophile lifestyle and the lack of focused searches carried out with the specific methods needed for inventorying ant-associates.These peculiar taxa are often neglected during classic biodiversity inventories based on the use of traditional sampling techniques such as pitfall trapping, sweep netting, or the use of beating trays. Moreover, the number of studies focusing on myrmecophile spiders in Southern Europe is extremely low when compared to Central and Northern countries (Castellucci et al 2022, Lenzini et al 2022). Given the known presence of some of its host ant species in other regions of Spain and Portugal (Seifert 2021), it is likely that the actual distribution of T. biovatus in the Iberian Peninsula extends further away from the Pyrenees, and that this species is more widespread and abundant than previously thought, as observed in other countries like Belgium, Britain, Denmark and Italy after targeted searches were conducted (Donisthorpe 1927, Scharff & Gudik-Sørensen 2006, Parmentier et al 2014, Castellucci et al 2022).…”