Wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) on the parched slopes of Rokua, in central Finland

Authors

• Juhani Itämies
• Reima Leinonen
• Mikko Pentinsaari
• Päivi Virnes

Abstract

The Rokua area is an exceptional dune area in central Finland modified by waves and wind after the last ice age. In the summer of 2005 we inventoried the invertebrate fauna of the area. In this article we present the results on the part of wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae). The spiderswere collected using 25 pitfall traps constructed from plastic jars (Ø 12 cm). As collection sites we selected five esker slopes facing directly south. Altogether 860 wolf spiders were caught. The total number of species was 14. There were three almost equally abundant species, Alopecosa aculeata (Clerck) (28.6%), Pardosa schenkeli Lessert (26.0%) and P. lugubris (Walkenaer) (25.3%). Another species that favours these parched slopes is Xerolycosa nemoralis (14.1%). Themost remarkable find was P. schenkeli, which occurred abundantly at sites 1, 2, 4 and 5, but was totally missing from site 3. The first mentioned sites are ornamented by patches of open sand and Thymus serpyllum, but site 3 has an almost continuous lichen cover. The find is several hundred kilometres north from the previous known records.