The spiders of Prince Edward Island: experts and citizen scientists collaborate for faunistics

Abstract

Although lists of spider species have been compiled for all of Canada’s provinces and territories, the spider fauna of Prince Edward Island (PEI) is poorly known. Based on the efforts of citizen scientists, naturalists, and scientists on PEI and researchers at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, we present the first comprehensive list of spider species on the island, increasing the known number from 44 to 198. The Centre for Biodiversity Genomics conducted intensive collection in Prince Edward Island National Park; Nature PEI citizen scientists and naturalists contributed specimens from across the island from several different habitats. This provincial list is dominated by the araneoid families, Linyphiidae, Theridiidae, and Araneidae, with 55, 27, and 22 species, respectively. Several non-native species, such as the theridiid Eurasian False Black Widow Spider (Steatoda bipunctata (L.)) and the araneid Red-sided Sector Spider (Zygiella atrica (C.L. Koch)), have been collected in several locations on the island, suggesting that they are well established. This work highlights the effectiveness of collaboration among citizen scientists, naturalists, and professional researchers to further our knowledge of species diversity and distributions.

Araneae of Canada

“…In addition to revising the species names and count data for regions with existing species-level checklists (AB, BC, MB, NF, QC, and YT), a major benefit of Paquin et al (2010) was the provision of species-level data for those Canadian regions where spider species checklists had not previously existed (Table 3). The low species counts for PE and NU reflected the fact that no serious spider inventory work had yet been done in PE (Bowden et al in press) and very little in NU (e.g., Leech 1966). The species numbers recorded in 2010 for the remaining “first-time” regions are an indication of substantial spider inventory work in those regions, largely led by CD Dondale and JH Redner of the Canadian National Collections (CNC) but also with significant input of specimens and data from CNC entomologists, Canadian Forest Service researchers, and non-government arachnologists such as DJ Buckle, R Holmberg, and RE Leech.…”

“…Most dramatically, the species count for PE increased by 521% between 2010 and 2018. This was almost entirely because of the combination of data accumulated through CBG’s national barcoding project (Blagoev et al 2016, deWaard et al 2017) and a “BioBlitz” in 2015 targeting PE’s previously poorly known spider fauna (Bowden et al in press). (BioBlitzes, a relatively new faunistics tool, can be important sources of novel data.…”

Full Issue PDF

“…This is evident in the pages of The Canadian Field-Naturalist, including the current issue. For example, in Bowden et al (2018) the combined efforts of citizen scientists, naturalists, and scientists led to an astounding increase in the list of spiders known to occur on Prince Edward Island. They were able to to more than quadruple the number of known spider species, from 44 to 198 species!…”