Corresponding author: Nuria Macías-Hernández (
Academic editor: D. Dimitrov
The ground-dweller spider genus
Macías-Hernández N, López SC, Roca-Cusachs M, Oromí P, Arnedo MA (2016) A geographical distribution database of the genus
Because of their high level of endemism and conservation challenges, the Macaronesian archipelagos, located in the eastern Mid-Atlantic ocean, are listed among Earth’s biodiversity hot spots (
Map of the Canary Islands showing their geological age according to Carracedo et al. (1998) and van den Bogaard (2013).
Arthropods are by far the most diverse assemblage of terrestrial Canarian organisms, with nearly 7000 species, 465 of which are spiders, most of them endemisms (64%) (
Habitus of some
During the last 20 years several systematic studies conducted on Canarian
Specimens referred in this database were collected during the last 45 years, mainly by members of the
Specimens from PhD and master dissertations carried out at the University of La Laguna and University of Barcelona (A.L. Medina 1991, J.L. Martín 1992, M.A. Arnedo 1996, N. Macías-Hernández 2010, M. Roca-Cusachs 2016) (70%, approx. 3,200 records).
Specimens collected during research projects and other unpublished studies conducted by i)
Most of the material used in the dataset is deposited in the collections of the Department of Animal Biology, Edaphology and Geology, University of La Laguna (
Although the sampling procedure depended on each research project, it was mainly conducted by direct searching under stones and logs, beneath tree bark, scraping soil and rocky embankments, or in volcanic caves. A large amount of specimens were also collected by using pitfall traps both on the surface and in the mesovoid shallow substratum
A complete raw dataset of specimen-based records identified to species level by the authors was firstly assembled. All available information (i.e. number of specimens, species identification, identifier’s name, sex, locality, geographic coordinates, altitude, type of habitat, date, collector and observations) was digitized in a Microsoft Excel 2011 spreadsheet (data not shown). A second species distribution table (Suppl. material
GPS coordinates were converted to decimal degrees with the online coordinate converter available at
Following data entry, a data checking procedure to minimize likely data-entry errors was conducted. This included an assessment of records with the same localities for spelling errors, double-checking uncertain records (species identification, geographical coordinates, etc). Accurate spelling of scientific names and taxonomic synonyms was revised according to
A georeferenced distribution map of each
The original raw database, from which all locality records were extracted, consisted of 4,595 individual records identified to species level (data not shown). All georeferenced localities where each species was collected are shown in Suppl. material
The distribution of each
Presence of each : El Hierro : La Palma : La Gomera : Tenerife : Gran Canaria : Fuerteventura : Lanzarote
Species | H | P | G | T | C | F | L |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The proportion of endemic
Graphical representation of the island endemisms and the species shared between islands. Pie sizes are proportional to the number of species on each island. Black sectors: number of species shared with other islands; grey sectors: proportion of local endemisms. Lines connecting pies: number of shared species between the corresponding islands, the width of the lines being proportional to the number of shared species. The disposition of pies reflects the geographical arrangement of the islands: : La Palma : El Hierro : La Gomera : Tenerife : Gran Canaria : Fuerteventura : Lanzarote
The species composition of oceanic islands is the joint result of colonization from nearby continental regions, and local speciation and extinction processes (
Species richness in Canarian
mesovoid shallow environment
A striking pattern of
The conservation status of the genus
The database and geographical maps presented in this article stand for the most updated and extensive information on the distribution of the spider genus
Data package title: A geographical distribution database of the genus
Provisional doi:
Data files: Macías-Hernandez et al. (2016), Zookeys, Species Distribution Table
Macías-Hernandez et al. (2016), Zookeys, Species Distribution Maps
We wish to thank all the people who have helped us throughout the years with fieldwork, either collecting with us or providing logistic support, with special mention to the
Supplementary Table 1
distribution data
Distribution of each
Supplementary Figure 1
distribution data
Distributional map of each species of