On the ecology of the cursorial spider Odo bruchi (Araneae: Zoridae) in a grassland natural reserve from central Argentina

POMPOZZI GABRIEL; COPPERI SOFÍA; SCHWERDT LEONELA; FERRETTI NELSON

REVISTA DE BIOLOGíA TROPICAL

REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA TROPICAL

Lugar: Turrialba; Año: 2014 vol. 62 p. 87 - 93

0034-7744

The ?Ernesto Tornquist? Provincial Park (ETPP) is located inside the Ventania system (Argentina) and was created to protect one of the last relicts of pampean grassland. Spiders are used as ecological indicators to evaluate the nature conservation status. Moreover, when individual species are used, excellent basic information on their distribution and ecology is necessary for the choice of indicator taxa. Therefore, the goal of this study is to present the phenology and demography of the spider Odo bruchi Mello-Leitão 1938 (Zoridae), a cursorial spider present in the ETPP. Spiders were sampled bimonthly using pitfall traps between September 2009-2010 (first year), and March 2011-2012 (second year). Traps were arranged in line of 10 placed each 10m along a transect of 100m parallel to the longest axis of a grassland slope. We filled the traps with 1 500mL of ethylene glycol, and we examined each 60 day period and refilled. We collected 799 specimens in two years. Juveniles were the most abundant reaching 47.8% of the total, while males corresponded to 27.8% and females 24.4%. The results obtained in this study are important in order to generate basic knowledge for future studies on this spider species as a bio-indicator of the health of pampean grasslands.