Arachnologische Mitteilungen 55

Arachnologische Mitteilungen / Arachnology Letters 55: 25-29 Karlsruhe, April 2018 Spiders inhabiting subterranean habitats attract researchers because of their rarity and specific appearance associated with living in extreme conditions. These include permanent dark- ness, constant temperature and limited food supply. Efficient sampling techniques have been developed to improve the stu- dy of subterranean faunas (Mammola et al. 2016). Recently, Mammola et al. (in press) published a comprehensive sum- mary of all hypogean spiders known in Europe, revealing the predominance of the family Linyphiidae in the subterranean ecosystem throughout the continent. Increasingly updated inventories of the Slovak subterranean fauna brought noti- ceable new discoveries in various invertebrate groups (Kováč et al. 2014). The present research on previously unexplored subterranean habitats revealed two rare, minute spiders new to Slovakia (Western Carpathian Mts.), Pseudomaro aenigma- ticus Denis, 1966 and Pseudocarorita thaleri (Saaristo, 1971). Material and methods The authors found evidence for the two spider species in Slo- vakia during three independent studies of the subterranean fauna in different subsurface habitats applying different re- search methods. A . The Plavecká Cave in the Malé Karpaty Protected Land- scape Area, Western Slovakia (48.4969°N, 17.2667°E; 222 m a.s.l).This 936 m long Mesozoic limestone cave is situated at the foot of the western slope of a moist deci- duous forest (Figs 1–2). Spiders were collected inside the cave in the “Dome of the bats”, with a constant tempera- ture of 11 °C. It contains one of the largest summer bat nurseries for Myotis myotis (Borkhausen, 1797) in Slo- vakia, producing considerable amounts of guano, which attracts many ground-dwelling invertebrates. Specimens were sampled in April and September 2005 using pitfall traps, heating extraction of the organic material using Tullgren funnels and by hand collection. B. The Jajcajov jarok Valley in the Malé Karpaty Protec- ted Landscape Area, Western Slovakia (48.2667°N, 17.1167°E; 410 m a.s.l.).The subterranean sampling de- vices were placed in the granitoid scree slope covered by a beech forest (Figs 1, 3). The profile consisted of four horizons: litter and humus (0-5 cm deep), an organo- mineral layer (5-20 cm), a mixture of mineralized soil and rocks (20-75 cm) and gravel partially clogged with soil (75-110 cm). Each trapping set consisted of the plastic tube with openings at a depth of 5-95 cm and ten plastic jars, using 4% formalin and 50 % ethylene glycol as fixation fluids.The traps were exposed from June 2014 to October 2016. C. The Belinské skaly Nature Monument in the Cerová vrchovina Protected Landscape Area, Southern Slovakia (48.2167°N, 19.8667°E; 460 m a.s.l.). The research was performed on the slope of the south-west oriented scree foothill, overgrown with an oak-hornbeam forest, below a basalt rock cliff with scarce xerophilous vegetation (Figs 1, 4). The substratum was composed of a mixture Two subterranean-dwelling spiders new to Slovakia (Araneae: Linyphiidae) Anna Šestáková, Andrej Mock, Jana Christophoryová & Peter Gajdoš doi: 10.30963/aramit5504 Abstract . Studies of subterranean habitats in Slovakia revealed two rare linyphiid spider species new to the country, Pseudomaro aenig- maticus Denis, 1966 and Pseudocarorita thaleri (Saaristo, 1971). Pseudomaro aenigmaticus was recorded in the Malé Karpaty Mountains in western Slovakia. A male was captured in the limestone Plavecká Cave and a female was found in a granitoid mesovoid shallow subs- tratum (MSS) in the Jajcajov jarok Valley. One pair of Pseudocarorita thaleri was found in the MSS in the Belinské skaly Nature Monument in the Cerová vrchovina Highland in southern Slovakia. This study also presents the characteristic habitus and habitats of the recorded spiders. Keywords: Central Europe, first records, hypogean habitats, Pseudocarorita thaleri , Pseudomaro aenigmaticus , Western Carpathians Zusammenfassung . Zwei unterirdisch lebende Spinnenarten neu in der Slowakei (Araneae: Linyphiidae). Untersuchungen un- terirdischer Lebensräume in der Slowakei erbrachten die Neunachweise von zwei Arten für das Land, Pseudomaro aenigmaticus Denis, 1966 und Pseudocarorita thaleri (Saaristo, 1971). Pseudomaro aenigmaticus wurde in den Kleinen Karpaten in derWestslowakei erfasst. Ein Männchen wurde in der Kalkhöhle Plavecká und ein Weibchen in einem oberflächennahen Lückensystem (mesovoid shallow substra- tum= MSS) imTal Jajcajov jarok gefangen. Ein Paar von Pseudocarorita thaleri wurde ebenfalls imMSS im Belinské skaly Naturdenkmal im Cerová vrchovina Hochland in der Südslowakei nachgewiesen. Es wird der markante Habitus der Arten und Charakteristika ihrer Habitate präsentiert. Anna ŠESTÁKOVÁ: The Western Slovakian Museum, Múzejné nám. 3, 918 09 Trnava, Slovakia; E-mail: asestakova@gmail.com Andrej MOCK: Department of Zoology, Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Šrobárova 2, 041 67 Košice, Slovakia; E-mail: andrej.mock@upjs.sk Jana CHRISTOPHORYOVÁ: Department of Zoology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, SK 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia; E-mail: christophoryova@gmail.com Peter GAJDOŠ: Institute of Landscape Ecology, Nitra Branch, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Akademická 2, SK-94901 Nitra, Slovakia; E-mail: p.gajdos@savba.sk submitted 21.12.2017, accepted 27.2.2018, online 30.4.2018 Fig. 1: Distribution map of two new spiders to Slovakia: Pseudocarorita thaleri (triangle) and Pseudomaro aenigmaticus (squares). A. Plavecká Cave, B. Jajcajov jarok Valley, C. Belinské skaly, Blue – Malé Karpaty Mts., Red – Cerová vrchovina Mts.