SEASONAL VARIATION AND DEMOGRAPHY OF Leprolochus birabeni Mello-Leitão, 1942 (ARANEAE: ZODARIIDAE) IN ENVIRONMENTS OF CHACO SERRANO OF NORTHWESTERN ARGENTINA

TORRES VÍCTOR MANUEL; SANDRA RODRIGUEZ ARTIGAS; ANDREA X, GONZÁLEZ REYES; CORRONCA, J. A.

San Miguel de Tucuman

Jornada; XXXI Jornadas Científicas de la Asociación de Biología de Tucumán; 2014

Sociedad de Biología de Tucumán

The Chaco Serrano is a highly disturbed ecoregion and one of the few with dry subtropical forests in the world, so its study and conservation are essential. Among arachnids, spiders are considered indicators of environmental quality because their communities are strongly influenced by the type of habitat. Zodariidae family is mainly present in tropical and subtropical areas. L. birabeni Mello-Leitão, 1942 is a myrmecophagic species distributed from North Brazil to Central region of Argentina, and it is very common in Chaco and Argentinian Monte. The aim of this study is to characterize the demography and the seasonal variation of L. birabeni in different environments of Chaco Serrano of Salta province. Seasonal samplings (2006-2007) were performed using pitfall traps in three environments: NA (native sites), NG (native sites affected by cattle and goats), and NC (native patches surrounded by crops). We collected 531 spiders with the juveniles reaching 65% of total abundance, followed by males (25%) and females (10%). Spring and summer had the highest abundance with 46.3% and 28.4%, respectively. L. birabeni showed the highest abundance in NA representing the 42.37% of total abundance, followed by the NG 32.96% and the NC 24.67%. Likewise, the number of juveniles and females decreased from NA>NG>NC, while the abundance of males was at its lowest in NG (nNG=27), and was similar in NA and NC (nNA=53, nNC=57). These results suggest that seasonality influences the abundance of this species in the study area, in addition to the land use. These results provide basic information for future studies to test if this species will be useful as a possible indicator of the conservation status of Chaco Serrano.