Arachnologische Mitteilungen 58

Spermophora senoculata on Sicily/Italy 7 2009a). At least sixteen pholcid species have been introdu- ced in Europe, making Pholcidae the second most species- rich introduced family in the continent, placed between the much larger families Salticidae Blackwall, 1841 and Theridi- idae Sundevall, 1833 (Van Keer & Van Keer 2001, Kobelt & Nentwig 2008, Huber et al. 2015, Nentwig 2015, Huber et al. 2017). Among them, a second species of Spermophora , S. kerinci Huber, 2005, native to South-eastern Asia (Huber 2005), was recently discovered inside some heated buildings in England and Germany just few years after its description (Snazell & Smithers 2007, Kielhorn 2009). Of these sixteen pholcid species (Nentwig 2015,Huber et al. 2015), apart from Spermophora spp., the following six are currently considered established (Nentwig 2015): Artema atlanta Walckenaer, 1837, Crossopriza lyoni (Blackwall, 1867), Micropholcus fauro- ti (Simon 1887), Modisimus culicinus (Simon, 1893), Pholcus phalangioides , Psilochorus simoni (Berland, 1911) and Sme- ringopus pallidus (Blackwall, 1858). Most of the introduced pholcids appear to prefer anthropogenic habitats and none is recognized as harmful (Huber et al. 2017). In general, the cur- rent knowledge about the impacts of exotic spiders on native arthropod communities remains very low (Nentwig 2015). The discovery of Spermophora senoculata on the island of Sicily is not surprising given its already widespread presence in neighbouring regions. Moreover, the Sicilian araneofauna has been neglected for many years, and numerous species were recorded only in recent times (Di Pompeo et al. 2011, Dentici 2017, Dentici & Amata 2018). Our findings occurred exclu- sively inside cities, and the knowledge of cave spiders in Sicily does not report any trace of its presence from these potenti- ally suitable habitats (Brignoli 1979b). However, it appears premature to exclude the possibility that it represents a native species.The examples from other Mediterranean large islands, such as Crete and Sardinia (Senglet 1971, Brignoli 1979a), suggest that S. senoculata could be able to find suitable natural habitats for its establishment. Moreover, further supporting this possibility, a single juvenile Spermophora specimen (un- fortunately not morphologically identifiable to species rank) was very recently found under a stone in a pine reforestation on the island of Marettimo (Egadi Islands), only few kilome- tres west of Sicily (37.9605°N, 12.0734°E, 28. Apr. 2019, A. Dentici leg.). Acknowledgements We wish to thank all the reviewers and the editors, and particularly Bernhard Huber (Alexander Koenig Research Museum of Zoology, Germany), for their constructive suggestions, which improved the final quality of our manuscript. References Blick T, Bosmans R, Buchar J, Gajdoš P, Hänggi A, van Helsdingen P, Růžička V, Staręga W & Thaler K 2004 Checkliste der Spin- nen Mitteleuropas. Checklist of the spiders of Central Europe. (Arachnida: Araneae).– Internet: https://arages.de/fileadmin/Pdf/ checklist2004_araneae.pdf (14. 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