Arachnologische Mitteilungen 54

Arachnologische Mitteilungen / Arachnology Letters 54: 33-37 Karlsruhe, September 2017 Dolomedes plantarius (Clerck, 1757) is the only protected spider in Belarus. It has conservational status III in the Red Book of Belarus (2006) and is considered as vulnerable (VU) according to the IUCN (World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1996). Despite its important status D. plantarius was not studied in Belarus in any detail and our current work is an attempt to put together all known records about this species as well as to present our own data. The distribution and sta- tus of D. plantarius in Europe was nicely discussed by Duffey (2012) and one of the points we also would like to empha- size is that this species is quite likely to have considerably more dense populations in various parts of Europe than was believed before. Recent discoveries in various countries con- firm this idea (Duffey 2012). The information provided here about earlier records of D. plantarius in Belarus might seem to be excessive but most of the publications on which we based our research are in Belarusian or Russian and many of these works are conference presentations, hence unavailable for most of the arachnologists in the world. Also data about habitats and types of water bodies where this spider species was found might be of additional interest to ecologists and conservation biologists. We hope that provided data will be useful when planning conservation activities as well as will help to create more reliable models of D. plantarius populati- on dynamics in Europe. History of records of D. plantarius in Belarus The first mention of D. plantarius in Belarus dates back to 1986 (Shlakhtyonok 1986). In his study the author claimed to have found this species in a dry (!) meadow with the help of a Barber trap. The meadow was located in the territory of the Biarezinski Biosphere Reserve, in the middle and north of the country.The identification was confirmed by the Russian arachnologist V. I. Ovcharenko. It is believed to be the first record of D. plantarius in Belarus, however, the close relative D. fimbriatus is known from previous work by Litvinova et al. (1980) where all the data about spiders of Belarus ever collec- ted up to that time were systematized. It is quite possible that D. plantarius was caught earlier but identified as D. fimbriatus which used to be the typical situation in the first half of the 20th century (Helsdingen 1994). Unfortunately, the speci- men collected by Shlyakhtyonok (1986) is not available so we could not examine it. In the Red Book of Belarus (2006) there is also a mention of a site in the territory of national park “Prypiacki” where D. plantarius was collected sometime between 1986 and 2006 (the date when the Red Book was issued). The observation was most probably made by J. Zhu- kovets and there is no specimen available to check it. It is very strange that such an interesting and large species was missed by specialists in Belarus so, in fact, there is a gap in the records that lasted for almost 20 years. We doubt that this was connected with rarity of the D. plantarius because our own investigations showed rather dense populations at different sites in this country. The third record was in 2002-2003, but the data was pu- blished only in 2007 which meant it was not included into Red Book of Belarus published in 2006 (Moroz & Shava- nova 2007). Dolomedes plantarius was collected with help of a hydrobiological net in two of eight sites. Both of the sites were lakes (Lubień and Karosina) in the territory of the Na- tional Park “Prypiacki”. The first lake, Lubeń (52°03'49.2"N 28°12'35.2"E), where D. plantarius was present was flooded during the spring time. The shores were overgrown with Typha , Phragmites and Carex . The second lake, Karosina (52°04'09.9"N 28°11'58.7"E), was also flooded during snow Dolomedes plantarius (Araneae, Pisauridae) in Belarus: records, distribution and implications for conservation Vladisalav Ivanov, Oleg Prishepchik & Ekaterina Setrakova doi: 10.5431/aramit5407 Abstract. Dolomedes plantarius (Clerck, 1757) is becoming another iconic species within European conservation programmes. It is com- monly accepted that the densest populations of this species are situated in Western Europe and many records confirm this. At the same time Eastern European populations are often not taken into account when assessing future dynamics of species distribution due to clima- te change. Here we provide data about D. plantarius in Belarus, which includes both an extensive literature survey and our own records in different parts of the country. The evidence provided suggest that Belarus is currently a large refugium for the fen raft spider, which was found during the last 30 years practically everywhere where specialists were interested in its study. We suggest that involvement of international research teams in studies of D. plantarius in Belarus will ensure the most efficient population management in Europe. Keywords: protected areas, Red List, spiders, vulnerable species Zusammenfassung. Dolomedes plantarius (Araneae, Pisauridae) in Weißrussland: Nachweise, Verbreitung und Folgerungen für ihren Schutz. Dolomedes plantarius (Clerck, 1757) wird als relevante Art in europäischen Naturschutzprogrammen zunehmend berück- sichtigt. Dabei wird allgemein angenommen, dass der Schwerpunkt der Verbreitung der Art in Westeuropa liegt, was auf der Vielzahl der Nachweise von dort beruht. Die osteuropäischen Vorkommen wurden bisher meist nicht beachtet, wenn klimabedingte Verbrei- tungsveränderungen der Art modelliert wurden. Daten zu D. plantarius aus Weißrussland werden vorgestellt, einerseits aus intensiver Literaturarbeit und andererseits aus eigenen Nachweisen in verschiedenenTeilen des Landes. Damit wird deutlich, dassWeißrussland ein bedeutendes Reservoir für die Art darstellt. Sie wurde in den letzten 30 Jahren fast immer gefunden, wenn gezielt nach ihr gesucht wur- de. Wir empfehlen dass die Vorkommen inWeißrussland in die internationale Forschung einbezogen werden, um die Schutzprogramme für die Art zu optimieren. Vladisalav Ivanov, P.O. Box 8000, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland; E-mail: uladzislausw@gmail.com Oleg Prishepchik, 27 Akademicheskaya Street, Minsk BY-220072, Republic of Belarus; E-mail: prischepchik@mail.ru Ekaterina Setrakova, 27 Akademicheskaya Street, Minsk BY-220072, Republic of Belarus; E-mail: ekaterina_setrakova@mail.ru submitted 7.3.2016, accepted 21.7.2017, online 10.8.2017