Spiders (Araneae) of the National Nature Park Buzkyi Hard and its vicinity (Mykolaiv Region, Ukraine)

Study Extent

The material was collected by pitfall trapping, sweep netting and hand collecting. Spiders were found in dwellings and household buildings and in the habitats typical of the region of the lower Pivdennyi Buh reaches: zonal forb-bunchgrass steppe, granite outcrops, steppe on the granitic rock (“granitic steppe”), meadows, open woodlands, forests, forest edges, forest springs and river/lake banks. The checklist contains a more detailed description of the above-mentioned habitats. The dataset includes information on published findings of spiders by N.Yu. Polchaninova (V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine) K.V. Evtushenko (I.I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of NAS of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine), V.A. Gnelitsa (Sumy State University, Sumy, Ukraine), and E.N. Singaevsky (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine), as well as the findings reported in the publications Nadolny et al., 2012 and Kovblyuk et al., 2012. The creation of this dataset was partially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic as part of the Transition Promotion Program.

Sampling

The dataset of spiders of Buzkyi Hard National Nature Park (Mykolaiv Region, Ukraine) is based on the material collected in 1997, 2006, 2007, 2012, and 2013. The method of trapping consists in setting 250 ml plastic cups with 4% formalin as a preservative in a line of 5-10 traps 10 m apart. Entomological sweep nets 30 cm in diameter with five replicates of 25 double sweeps were used for sweep net sampling. Hand collection included standard procedures for finding spiders under stones, tree bark, in crevices, etc., as well as shaking branches and brushing vertical surfaces. Geographical locations were indicated in Google Earth in decimal degrees according to the WGS 84 system.

Quality Control

We use the World Spider Catalog (WSC, 2023) to check the current status of the nomenclature since more than one year has passed since the publication of the literature data, which increases the likelihood of changes in spider nomenclature.

Method steps

1. Search for published preliminary data on the identification of spiders in the selected area.
2. Organizing field expeditions to the study area.
3. Setting up a line of traps in the study area with geo-referencing.
4. Regular inspection of traps; sweep-netting and hand collecting with geo-referencing.
5. Desk-based processing of found samples.
6. Adaptation of a dataset to Darwin Core standards; nomenclatural revision.

The dataset presents information about spiders (Arachnida: Araneae).

1. Animalia
   rank: kingdom
2. Arthropoda
   rank: phylum
3. Arachnida
   rank: class
4. Araneae
   rank: order
5. Agelenidae
   rank: family
6. Anyphaenidae
   rank: family
7. Araneidae
   rank: family
8. Atypidae
   rank: family
9. Cheiracanthiidae
   rank: family
10. Clubionidae
    rank: family
11. Dictynidae
    rank: family
12. Dysderidae
    rank: family
13. Eresidae
    rank: family
14. Gnaphosidae
    rank: family
15. Hahniidae
    rank: family
16. Linyphiidae
    rank: family
17. Liocranidae
    rank: family
18. Lycosidae
    rank: family
19. Mimetidae
    rank: family
20. Miturgidae
    rank: family
21. Oxyopidae
    rank: family
22. Philodromidae
    rank: family
23. Pholcidae
    rank: family
24. Phrurolithidae
    rank: family
25. Pisauridae
    rank: family
26. Salticidae
    rank: family
27. Tetragnathidae
    rank: family
28. Theridiidae
    rank: family
29. Thomisidae
    rank: family
30. Titanoecidae
    rank: family
31. Uloboridae
    rank: family
32. Zodariidae
    rank: family

The described study sites are located in three sectors of the Buzkyi Hard National Nature Park, the Mykolaiv Region of Ukraine, namely Bohdanivske (vicinities of Bohdanivka village and Yuzhnourkainsk town), Myhiiske (vicinities of Myhiya and Kuripchyne villages), and Trykratske (vicinities of Aktove and Trykraty villages).