Soutpansberg Mountain: a spider hotspot in the Limpopo Province of South Africa (Arachnida, Araneae)

By

Dippenaar-Schoeman, Ansie S
Munyai, T. Caswell
Schoeman, Colin S.
Hahn, Norbert
Foord, Stefan H.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2024-11-12

Original Publication

African invertebrates : a journal of biodiversity research

Volume

65

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

85--114

Subjects

Conservation biogeography , endemicity , faunistic surveys , global distribution , SANSA , Savanna biome , South African National Survey of Arachnida

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Pietermaritzburg, South Africa Council of the Natal Museum 2001-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/afrinvertebr.65.135136

 

Abstract

The Soutpansberg Mountain (SM) range in the northern part of the Limpopo Province within the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve, is a refuge for high diversity of organisms due to its geological history and location. As part of the South African National Survey of Arachnida (SANSA), the spider diversity of the Soutpansberg Mountain was determined over 27 years: 58 families, 293 genera, and 585 species were recorded. The Salticidae with 85 species, followed by Thomisidae (81 species), Araneidae, and Gnaphosidae, with 45 species each, are the most species-rich, while 11 families are represented by single species. Global distributions, endemicity, and conservation assessment are provided for each species using IUCN criteria. Most species (516, 88.1%) are widely distributed with no known threats and are of Least Concern, whereas eight species (1.4%) are of special concern. Of these, five species are Rare and one each is Critically Rare, Vulnerable, and Near Threatened. Twenty-five new species have been described from the SM since 1997, but 17 species (2.9%) are still Data Deficient, and 44 species were not evaluated due to unresolved taxonomy. The SM represents a spider biodiversity hotspot in the Limpopo Province, representing 25.4% of the total spider fauna of South Africa and 64.3% of the known spider fauna of the Limpopo Province.