L.A. Trilikauskas’s research while affiliated with Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Russian Academy of Sciences and other places

For the fi rst time, the spider fauna of the Salair National Park and adjacent territories is studied in detail and its zoogeographical characteristics are given. The surveys were carried out in the Togul and Chumysh cluster areas and adjacent territories in 2020–2022. An annotated list has been compiled, including 118 species from 17 families and 77 genera. Twenty seven species of spiders were recorded in the Altai Territory for the fi rst time. The genus Enoplognatha Pavesi, 1880 is new to the region. The family Linyphiidae is the most diverse. At the generic level, small- sized wolf spiders of the genus Pardosa C. L. Koch, 1847 and large orb-web spiders of the genus Araneus Clerck, 1757 are represented by the highest number of species (6 and 5, respectively). The analysis of longitudinal components of the ranges of the collected species showed a signifi cant predominance (more than 70%) of widespread, trans- Palaearctic and trans- Holarctic elements. Twenty percent of species are common to the fauna of Europe and Siberia. The predicted spider species diversity of this region is 300–350 species.

An annotated list of spiders (65 species from 48 genera in 17 families) and harvestmen (five species from 5 genera in two families) of the Khingansky Reserve and adjacent territories is given. Two spider species (Cyclosa ginnaga and Diaea gyoja) are new for the fauna of Russia. Twenty six species of spiders and four species of harvestmen are new for the fauna of the Amurskaya Oblast. Thirty seven species of spiders and all harvestmen were recorded from Khingansky Reserve for the first time.

The epigeic spider assemblages of oak forests were studied in the Leopard Land National Park and the Kedrovaya Pad’ Nature Reserve in Russia. The material was collected from four sites in 2018–2020. Overall, the field work covered the period from 23 May to September 2. In the oak forests studied, 956 adult spider individuals, representing 51 species, 40 genera, and 15 families, were collected. Two species, Zelotes kimwha (Gnaphosidae) and Lasaeola yoshidai (Theridiidae), are new for the Russian fauna. The family Lycosidae was the most abundant worldwide. The most numerous species was the wolf spider, Alopecosa virgata. Diversity indices showed higher values at the end of the activity time when the abundance of the dominant species sharply decreased and the structure of the assemblages became more even. A more or less stable, albeit low activity was recorded only for Alloclubionoides paiki (Agelenidae). The results of the multivariate analysis of variance showed that the studied spider assemblages in the four oak forest plots differed significantly with respect to “site” and “season”. However, the contribution of the “season” parameter to the differentiation of assemblages was the greatest. The peak of spider activity occurs in the first decade of June in the mixed shrub-oak forest.

Впервые изучено население пауков в межгорных котловинах Юго-Восточного Алтая и Тувы с применением катенного подхода. Установлено, что оно весьма малочисленно и бедно в таксономическом отношении. На катенах Чуйской котловины преобладали субаридные виды, в то время как в Курайской котловине, расположенной в долине крупной р. Чуя, максимальную долю составили полизональные виды. В Туве наиболее засушливые условия катены на хр. Танну-Ола (Убсунурская котловина, западный сектор), обусловили преобладание субаридных фаунистических элементов, как и в Чуйской котловине. По той же причине эти две катены отличались самой большой долей представителей центральнопалеарктической фауны. На катенах у озер Хадын (Улуг-Хемская котловина) и Торе-Холь (Убсунурская котловина, восточный сектор), где аккумулятивные позиции отличались высокой влажностью, высока доля суббореальных гумидных видов. На катенах в Курайской степи и у оз. Хадын преобладали западнопалеарктические виды, а на катене у оз. Торе-Холь нет доминирования видов с каким-либо одним долготным типом ареала. Динамическая плотность пауков обычно была самой высокой на нижних позициях катен. В крайне засушливых условиях на всех позициях катен в Чуйской и Убсунурской (Танну-Ола) котловинах максимум динамической плотности отмечен на самых верхних позициях. В населении пауков горных котловин Юго-Восточного Алтая и Тувы наиболее многочисленны и разнообразны пауки-волки (Lycosidae) и гнафозиды (Gnaphosidae). В изолированных условиях отдельных котловин формируются специфичные фауны пауков. Сходны по структуре населения лишь транзитная и аккумулятивная позиции на катене в Курайской котловине.

An annotated list of harvestmen species (six species in two families) of the Katunsky Biosphere Reserve and adjacent territories in the Altai Republic, Russia is provided. A new species, Sabacon zateevi sp. nov. (♂ ♀ from the Altai Mountains, Russia), is described. Liropilio stukanovi Gritsenko, 1979 is recorded from Russia for the first time, and appearance and diagnostic features of its male are described. The appearance of a living specimen of the female of Homolophus nordenskioeldi (C.L. Koch, 1879) is also provided. For all the studied species, biotope preferences and distribution are discussed. Additional information on morphology and distribution of Sabacon sergeidedicatum Martens, 1989 is given.

Spider communities (Arachnida: Aranei) have been studied in central Kazakhstan along 70° E longitude in the subzones of typical, dry, and desert steppes on catenas, including eluvial, transitive, and accu-mulative positions. In total, 79 spider species belonging to 33 genera and 11 families have been identified. The bulk of the spider population consists of gnaphosid ground spiders, which are typical for arid zones and arid habitats. Wolf spiders (Lycosidae) are also abundant in the study area; they are most numerous in the lower, more humid catena positions. An increase in the proportion of jumping spiders (Salticidae), as well as their taxonomic diversity in the spider population, has been observed in the direction from north to south, from typical to desert steppes. In contrast to the species richness of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae), which decreases in the series of these habitats from north to south, the number of spider species increases, and this is similar to the species richness of darkling beetles. Within the latitudinal gradient from north to south, at the upper positions of the catena, the dynamic density of spiders decreases, while the ecological diversity of spider taxocenes increases. Catena positions that are similar in faunal composition are, as a rule, also similar in the structure of the spider population. The transition from typical to desert steppes is accompanied by a decrease in the number of widespread species of subboreal distribution, and the number of species typical for steppe and semidesert habitats and for solonchaks increases.