Non-Acarine Arachnids in the Ndumo Game Reserve: Celebrating 100 Years of Research
Abstract
The state of scientific research on the non-acarine arachnids of the Ndumo Game Reserve is presented and its status as a biodiversity hotspot is supported by the exceptionally rich diversity of spiders (573 spp.), pseudoscorpions (11 spp.), scorpions (8 spp.), harvestmen (6 spp.), solifuges (2 spp.) and whip spiders (1 sp.), totalling 601 spp. Aside from baseline biodiversity research, biological research on spiders has focused on microhabitat preferences, reproductive biology and competition in web-building spiders; dietary breath, spatiotemporal distribution and predatory behaviour of myrmecophagous, araneophagous and termitophagous spiders; mimicry in myrmecomorphic spiders; and the provision of information on the microhabitat preferences of a broad range of species. Ecological studies have investigated bark-, ground- and canopy-dwelling assemblages, while karyological and taxonomic studies have covered a broad range of spider, harvestmen and pseudoscorpion taxa. Future research should build on this foundation by continuing biological research on the broad range of species available, generating more information on assemblage differences between biotopes and over longer temporal scales, and utilizing spiders and potentially other arachnids as bioindicators of ecological change.
