Arachnologische Mitteilungen 57

Arachnologische Mitteilungen / Arachnology Letters 57: 60-64 Karlsruhe, April 2019 The araneofauna of Ukraine has been studied unevenly. The latest total list based on the state of knowledge up to 2011 made reference to 1008 species including 537 species record­ ed from the Ukrainian Carpathians and 520 species from the Crimea (Mikhailov 2013). Since that time, a catalogue of the spiders of Left-Bank Ukraine has been published (Polchani­ nova & Prokopenko 2013, 2017), and a checklist of spiders from the Crimea has been updated (Kovblyuk & Kastrygina 2015).A conservation status was assessed for 386 species from the Ukrainian Carpathians ( Gajdoš et al. 2014), but a com­ plete detailed list of the spiders from this region still needs to be compiled.The rest of Ukraine remains poorly investigated. The present-day list of Ukrainian spiders as part of the total European list accounts for 1049 species (Nentwig et al. 2018). The catalogue of the spiders of Left-Bank Ukraine con­ tains information on the history of study as well as published and original records supported by collection material, a list of erroneous and doubtful records, synonymies, geographic coordinates of collecting localities, general geographic distri­ bution and species habitat preferences within the natural zo­ nes and subzones.The first catalogue listed 709 spider species in 247 genera and 35 families (Polchaninova & Prokopenko 2013). Four years later, Addendum I enlarged this list to 728 species of 266 genera (Polchaninova & Prokopenko 2017). The analysed data covered the period from 1836 to 2016, and included species collected in 263 localities. Nevertheless, new finds and changes in nomenclature over the past two years have required data revision, reexamination of some items from personal and museum collections, and updating of the total list.The purpose of the present paper is to summarize the state of knowledge of the spiders of Left- Bank Ukraine, to make a checklist based on species zonal distribution, and to outline prospective directions for future studies. Material and methods Left-Bank Ukraine is defined as the part of Ukraine east of the Dnieper River. Its total area covers more than 200 thousand square kilometres. Traditionally, the plain territory of the country is divided into the right- and left-bank parts along the Dnieper flow, which is justified both historically and biogeographically (Fig. 1). Left-Bank Ukraine encom­ passes the south-western part of the Central Russian Upland as well as western and central parts of the Donetsk Ridge, which are both low altitude hills on the East European Plain. The study area lies in three natural zones: forest, forest-steppe and steppe (Fig. 2).The steppe zone, in its turn, is divided into three subzones: forb-bunchgrass steppes (forb-fescue-feather grass), bunchgrass steppes (fescue-feather grass) and sage­ brush-bunchgrass, or semi-desert steppes (sagebrush-fescue- feather grass). The borders of the zones/subzones presented on the map are adopted from geo-botanical regioning of Uk­ raine (Barbarych 1977, Didukh & Shelyag-Sosonko 2003). The checklist of species is organized as a table, which pro­ vides records from the administrative regions of Left-Bank Ukraine and references to the summary surveys (Tab. 1, elec­ tronic appendix). The regions are arranged from north-west to south-east within the natural zones. Some of the regions are mentioned twice as they are located in two neighbouring zones. Species are given alphabetically by family and then by genera within the families, the nomenclature following the World Spider Catalogue (WSC 2018). Numbers in paren­ thesis show the number of species in each family in the cor­ responding zones/subzones, and in the study area as a whole. An updated checklist of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Left-Bank Ukraine Nina Polchaninova & Elena Prokopenko doi: 10.30963/aramit5711 Abstract. The current checklist of spiders from Left-Bank Ukraine includes 741 species in 270 genera and 34 families. The families Linyphiidae (215 species, 29% of the fauna), Gnaphosidae (83 species, 11%) and Salticidae (79 species, 11%) are the most species-rich. The Linyphiidae species diversity declines from north to south – from 33% of the fauna in the forest zone to 16% of the fauna in the bunchgrass steppe subzone. In contrast, the proportion of Gnaphosidae increases from 7% to 13%, respectively. A total of 407 spider species was recorded from the forest natural zone, 515 species from the forest-steppe, 583 species from the forb-bunchgrass steppe subzone of the steppe zone and 375 species from the bunchgrass steppe subzone. In terms of administrative division, the araneofauna of the Donetsk Region is the richest with 514 species, the faunas of the Kharkiv (426 species), Luhansk (402 species) and Chernihov (391 species) regions follow it. The poorest is the Zaporizhzhia Region with 122 species. In total, spiders have been collected at 269 localities and the results have been published in 369 papers. Faunistic and ecological studies are the main directions of arachnological research in Left-Bank Ukraine. Keywords: Arthropoda, distribution, fauna inventory, species list, Ukraine Zusammenfassung. Eine aktualisierte Checkliste der Spinnen (Arachnida: Araneae) der Linksufer-Ukraine (linkes Ufer des Dnjepr). Die derzeitige Checkliste der Spinnen der Linksufer-Ukraine enthält 741 Arten aus 270 Gat tungen und 34 Familien. Die Linyphiidae (215 Arten, 29 % der Fauna), die Gnaphosidae (83 Arten, 11 %) und die Salticidae (79 Arten, 11 %) sind am artenreichsten. Die Artenvielfalt der Linyphiidae nimmt von Norden nach Süden ab: von 33 % Anteil in der Waldzone bis auf 16 % in der Horstgras-Steppen-Subzone. Im Gegenzug nimmt der Anteil der Gnaphosidae von 7 % auf 13 % zu. Ingesamt sind 407 Spinnenarten in der natürlichen Waldzone, 515 Arten in der Waldsteppe, 583 Arten in der Hochstauden-Grassteppen-Subzone und 375 Arten in der Horstgras-Steppen-Subzone nach- gewiesen. Nach Verealtungseinheiten ist die Spinnenfauna der Region Donetsk mit 514 Arten am artenreichsten, gefolgt von der Regio- nen Kharkiv (426 Arten), Luhansk (402 Arten) und Chernihov (391 species). Die Region Zaporizhzhia ist mit 122 Arten am artenärmsten. Insgesamt wurden an 269 Fundorten Spinnen gesammelt und die Ergebnisse in 369 Artikeln publiziert. Faunistische und ökologische Studien sind der Schwerpunkt der arachnologischen Forschung in der Linksufer-Ukraine. Nina POLCHANINOVA, Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, 4 Maid. Svobody, Kharkiv 61022 Ukraine; E-mail: n.polchaninova@karazin.ua Elena PROKOPENKO, Ukrainian Entomological Society, Ukraine; E-mail: elena.prokopenko40@gmail.com submitted 19.11.2018, accepted 21.2.2019, online 25.3.2019