The findings bring Georgia’s recorded spider fauna to 792 species in 289 genera and 44 families. The study is the third contribution in a series examining Georgian spider diversity and follows earlier work in which 111 species and 27 genera were added to the country’s documented fauna.

Researchers examined 142 subadult or adult spiders collected across Georgia: 46 males, 95 females and one juvenile. The material represented 33 species from 28 genera and 13 families and had been gathered during expeditions and short field trips to protected and unprotected areas through the CaBOL project.

Specimens were collected using aspirators, soil sifters, hand collection and light traps. Their elevations and WGS84 coordinates were recorded with a Garmin GPS MAP 64s. After preservation in 96% ethanol, the material was stored at −22 °C in collections at Ilia State University in Tbilisi and the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change in Bonn.

Identification combined literature on Caucasian spiders with microscopic examination of diagnostic anatomy. Female epigynes and endogynes were prepared with a 30% potassium hydroxide solution, while drawings commonly showed the left male palp, female epigyne and endogyne. DNA extraction followed German Barcode of Life protocols at the Bonn institute and customised protocols at Ilia State University.

The researchers submitted COI sequences to the Barcode of Life Data Systems and compared them with BOLD records using p-distance. They obtained 59 quality barcodes, each 658 base pairs long and free of stop codons, indels and deletions, representing 22 species. Twelve barcodes covering seven species were the first submissions for those species to BOLD.

Among the new Georgian records were Clubiona reclusa, Brigittea innocens, Lathys lehtineni, Pelecopsis parallela, Apostenus humilis, Evippa sjostedti, Oxyopes badhyzicus, Philodromus fuscolimbatus, Latrodectus pallidus, Bassaniodes pseudorectilineus and Tmarus piochardi, all reported for the first time in the Caucasus.

This was a field inventory combining morphological identification, specimen documentation and DNA barcoding, not a controlled experiment. Several identifications remained provisional because of limited material. The two female Lathys lehtineni specimens could not be identified reliably without a male, while a male Pelecopsis parallela resembled P. odontophora, leaving possible synonymy unresolved.

Barcodes for Brigittea innocens and Poecilochroa senilis did not produce good matches, and similarities between Bassaniodes pseudorectilineus and the previously reported B. loeffleri required further taxonomic assessment. The results are therefore bounded by sampling scope, incomplete barcode matches and the need for additional specimens or examination of type material to resolve some taxonomic questions.

Subject of Research: Field inventory and DNA barcoding of spider diversity in Georgia

Article Title: Picking pearls from the Silk Road: Insights into the spider ( Arachnida , Araneae ) diversity in Georgia from the Caucasus Barcode of Life (CaBOL) project. Part III

Article References: Seropian, A., Bulbulashvili, N., Krammer, H.-J., Thormann, J., Hein, N., Karalashvili, E., Kachlishvili, N., & Datunashvili, A. (2024). Picking pearls from the Silk Road: Insights into the spider (Arachnida, Araneae) diversity in Georgia from the Caucasus Barcode of Life (CaBOL) project. Part III. Caucasiana, 3, 89-118. https://doi.org/10.3897/caucasiana.3.e120883

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/caucasiana.3.e120883

Keywords: spider diversity, Georgia, Caucasus, CaBOL project, DNA barcoding, morphological identification, faunal inventory, COI sequences, taxonomic records, Picking, pearls, Silk