This page is an initial attempt to provide a list of valid names for the spiders (Araneae) reported for Ecuador, excluding the Galapagos Islands.
This updated list of spiders from Ecuador, initially published by Vincent Roth in 1997, now contains 44 families and 533 species.
The presence of additional species in the country is known through communication with various collaborators and specialists. These additional species and genera will be included in a later version after they have been reviewed and published. Uncertainties about the presence of some of the species are unavoidable, so this list can be considered as provisional and will be updated as new information becomes avalible.
In the present list, the order of the families, the assignment of genera to the respective family, and the names of the species are listed according to The World Spider Catalog version 10.5 (Platnick, 2010). The list follows the nomenclature used by Roth in his preliminary list. The families are arranged alphabetically within the mygalomorphs and araneomorphs to allow a more efficient access to a particular taxon.
The family Oonopidae has recently been the subject of a worldwide revision by the Goblin Spider PBI project. An expedition to Ecuador to collect specimens from this family took place in November and December 2009. Previously, two species were know from the mainland and Galapagos Islands. The revision of the genus Scaphiella will add five endemic species from Ecuador. New species from the genus Orchestina and at least seven new genera are waiting to be described from material collecting during this expedition (Platnick, pers. comm.).
The family Salticidae is under-represented in the country on Roth's list compared to neighboring countries. Personal communication with Wayne Maddisson established that some additional genera have been collected in Ecuador but much of this material has not yet been formally described. The genera know to be present in Ecuador, but not included in the list are: Admirala, Agelista, Akela, Amphidraus, Amycus, Ashtabula,Balmaceda, Bellota, Cobanus, Cotinusa, Cylistella, Fritzia, Habronattus, Hyetussa, Jollas, Parnaenus, Platycryptus, Rishaschia, Rudra, Sarinda, Sidusa, Sitticus, Thiodina, Zuniga.
The spiders of the Galapagos Islands have been recently reviewed by Baert and collaborators in 2008. This revision includes notes on the distribution and habitat preferences of the spiders in the different islands.
Finally, this page is dedicated to the memory of Vincent Roth, whose work and love for arachnology is an inspiration for us all.
References
Baert, L., Maelfait, J. Hendrickx, F., Desender, K. 2008. Distribution and habitat preference of the spiders (Araneae) of Galapagos. Entomologie. 78: 39 – 111.
Museo de Zoología de Invertebrados QCAZ Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas Pontificia Universidad Católica Del Ecuador
Last update: March 23, 2010
The author welcomes any further comments, additional records, and especially corrections at: mauriciovegaperez@hotmail.com
Please refer to this version as: Vega, M. 2010. Checklist of Spiders of Ecuador. Museo de Zoología de Invertebrados QCAZ. Online at: http://www.biologia.puce.edu.ec/cafe.php?c=906.
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