Quantitative, time-limited samplings in monthly intervals from June 1995 to August 1996, in combination with the measurement of carapace width of juvenile and adult spiders has revealed the life cycle patterns of the riparian wolf spiders Pardosa wagleri and Pirata knorri and showed the effect of floods on their abundance at the Isar River (Germany, Bavaria). Adults and juvenile spiders are heavily affected by floods but the populations of both species are able to recover quickly. The life cycles of both species are synchronized with the season and display a spring/summer stenochrony. P. wagleri shows a second reproductive phase in early summer. This reproductive behaviour supports the persistence of populations in this disturbed environment.

Species richness of spiders of the floor surface and the lower trunk area is higher in beech stands than in spruce forests. The abundances of epigeic spiders are also higher in beech stands whereas trunk spiders are more active on spruce. Harvestmen generally seem to prefer spruce forests, but more species were found on beech trunks than on spruce. Beech stands are partly preferred by other species than spruce forests.

The rare erigonine Erigonoplus justus was recently discovered at a xerothermic site in Rheinland-Pfalz. Its female is described for the first time. The species is new for Germany. Habitat preference, phenology and distribution area of E. justus are briefly discussed.

In 1998-99, spiders of the mainly Siberian genus Wubanoides Eskov, 1986 were found in a block field in the Harz mountains, Lower Saxony, Germany. They resemble W. uralensis (Pakhorukov, 1981), but appear taxonomically distinct when compared with paratypes of this species. Up to the clarification of their taxonomic status, they are announced here as W. uralensis. Short notes are given on biology and ecology, the questionable status of the species as a "glacial relict" is discussed.

New and little known species of the Pseudoscorpions from the Czech Republic

Orchestina pavesii (Simon, 1873) was recently discovered in Slovakia. Description of a male is presented.

Spider of the Year 2000 and 2001 Argyroneta aquatica and Argiope bruennichi.

book review: Vereinigung umweltwissenschaftlicher Berufsverbände Deutschlands - VUBD (Hrsg.): Handbuch landschaftsökologischer Leistungen - Empfehlungen zur aufwandsbezogenen Honorarermittlung

book review: R. Nitzsche: Das Brautgeschenk der Spinne Pisaura mirabilis (Clerck, 1757) (Pisauridae)

book review: Atmung über Plastron bei einer Geißelspinne nach: Hebets & Chapman (2000) - J. Insect Physiol. 46: 13-19

book review: C.L. Deeleman-Reinhold: Forest spiders of South East Asia.

book review: F. Murphy & J. Murphy: An introduction to the spiders of South East Asia.