Arachnologische Mitteilungen 57

Spider survey of Montaña La Breña 75 of species for La Palma to 132. Regarding the study site, 51 species have been newly reported for this protected area. Mo- reover, Sectors 2 and 3 are, with this new information, among the richest 500 m × 500 m quadrats of La Palma. Sector 1 and 4 were the ones where the least richness was found, mainly because the sampling area was lower than in Sector 2 and 3.The sampling methods which recovered the higher species abundance was foliage beating (131 individuals), followed by vegetation sweeping (120 individuals). However, the higher richness was recovered by sifting, with 27 species. Twenty species were collected just with one type of sampling method, which points the importance of applying several methods to potentially survey every single niche. A total of 160 females (37.2 %) and 70 males (16.0 %) was collected, thus indicating that more than half of the spe- cimens were adults. Neoscona crucifera , an introduced species, was the most abundant one with 38 individuals. It was fol- lowed by Kochiura aulica (36 specimens), Porrhoclubiona mi- nor (30) and Oxyopes kraepelinorum (28). All of these species were collected all four plots. The most abundant species that was collected in just one plot was Minicia gomerae , with 11 individuals just in the Sector 3. In contrast, 11 species were represented by just one individual. It is noticeably that almost 50 % of the species collected (29 species) were Macaronesian endemics, which indicates the high level of endemicity of the spider assemblages in laurel forest areas. Also, they were more abundant (207 individuals) than introduced species (61). In general, introduced species were more linked to the nitrophi- lous community than to the laurel forest, but some individuals were collected in the more preserved areas. As Montaña de la Breña is a narrow laurel forest relict, even a higher richness should be expected in the wider and more humid laurel fo- rests of the north of La Palma. A similar research was carried out by the first author in the same area following the same protocol (García et al. 2018) and obtained 839 specimens of 102 beetle species, almost double the number of spiders in this study, but the proportion of endemic species was the same for both groups.This pattern is rather common in the Canary Islands; beetles seem to be much more diverse and abundant than spiders as was shown by Hernández-Teixidor et al. (2009, 2011) in malpaís de La Rasca (Tenerife) and by Oromí et al. (2003) and Macías et al. (2004) on the islet of Montaña Clara, both conducted in sweet spurge shrubs. In this study, the family Theridiidae was the one with the highest richness (10 species) while in Hernández-Teixidor et al. (2011) and Macías et al. (2004), that family only recovered four and three species, respectively. Also, in those studies the number of Salticidae and Gnapho- sidae species was higher than in this study, thus indicating that species belonging to those families maybe more adapted to xeric conditions while Theridiidae species seem to prefer more humid areas. Spider inventories in the Canary Islands are still neces- sary because the spider fauna is not well studied (Wunder- lich 2011: 353) and chorological data is crucial to assess the conservation status of the endemic spider species. Moreover, if these surveys are repeated through time, reliable trends in distributional range and population size can be measured. Cardoso et al. (2017) suggested that most endemic spiders from Madeira are in a favourable situation as laurel forests are well preserved. As the spider assemblage in the Canary laurel forest highlights for its richness and endemicity, conservation efforts should be focused on the protection of this habitat in order to preserve its biota. Acknowledgements We are very grateful to Rafael García and to Nuria Macías for their help during the fieldwork and identification, respectively. In addition, we will like to thank the Insular Cabildo of La Palma for providing a sampling permit that allowed us to carry out this survey. 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