Spider (Order Araneae) Fauna of Citrus Orchards in Northern Part of Iran

Abstract

Spiders are carnivorous and most of them feed on insects. Therefore, they play an important role in insect population reduction. The present investigation was carried out to identify the spider’s fauna in citrus orchards of Guilan, Mazandaran and Golestan provinces, during 2004-2005. Specimens were collected from tree canopy, soil and vegetation of selected citrus grooves and were taken to laboratory after labeling. True results revealed that there were a total of 1310 specimens 34 species belonging to 32 genera and 13 Families identified, among which 4 species were new for Iran fauna, as follows: Larinioides cornutus(Clerck, 1757), Singa hamata(Clerck, 1757), Pardosa monticola (Clerck,1757) and Tetragnatha nigrita Lendl, 1886.