Resumo

ROMO, Martha I.  e  FLOREZ, Eduardo. ORB WEAVER SPIDER COMMUNITY (Araneae: Orbiculariae) ASSOCIATED TO THE HIGH ANDEAN FOREST INT THE GALERAS FLORA AND FAUNA SANCTUARY IN NARIÑO, COLOMBIA. Bol. Cient. Mus. Hist. Nat. Univ. Caldas [online]. 2009, vol.13, n.1, pp.114-126. ISSN 0123-3068.

The composition, diversity and abundance of orb-web spiders were studied in three bordering habitats of the Laguna Negra, Galeras Flora and Fauna Sanctuary, corresponding to forest, shrubs, and grassland, identifying in each one the microhabitats and the vegetation stratum occupied by the orb weaver spiders where their webs and shelters are located. The orb weaver spider community was manually sampled by means of the "web revealing" technique, by sprinkling the vegetation with flour in order to visualize the threads. It is composed of three families: Araneidae, Tetragnathidae and Uloboridae, distributed in 6 genera, being Chrysometa the most dominant genus. Furthermore, it was seen that the shrub and grassland habitats share 77% of all the registered species, indicating the presence of more than one orb-web spider community, in more than one physiognomic type of vegetation. Regarding the stratum, both the low and high strata have the majority of individuals, possibly because of the wide availability of physical resources offered by the vegetation for the construction of their webs. Finally, the main factors that can influence the distribution and diversity of the orb-weaver spiders studied are: variety and amount of structural supplies in the vegetation and the availability of food.

Palavras-chave : Spiders; abundance; vegetation structure; orb-webs.

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