Corresponding author: Alexander A. Fomichev (
Academic editor: R. Yakovlev
The paper reports six species of spiders from five families found in three caves located in the Altai Krai, Novosibirsk Oblast and Kemerovo Oblast of Russia. One troglophilic species,
Fomichev AA (2020) New data on spiders (Arachnida: Aranei) from the caves of Southwestern Siberia (Russia). Acta Biologica Sibirica 6: 429–436.
Spiders are among the most common cave arthropods. Troglophile and troglobiont species are known among many spider families. In the former USSR countries troglophile spiders are represented by the following families:
Specimen was photographed using an Olympus DP74 camera attached to an Olympus SZX16 stereomicroscope at the Altai State University. Photographs were taken in dish with black velvet paper on the bottom, filled with alcohol. Digital images were montaged using Helicon Focus software (
1. Russia, Novosibirsk Oblast, Barsukovskaya Cave,
2a. Russia, Kemerovo Oblast, Gavrilovskaya II (Malaya Gavrilovskaya) Cave,
2b. Same locality as above, 18 September 2020, leg. A.A. Fomichev, V.V. Sergeev, Yu.V. Dyachkov.
3. Russia, Altai Krai, Letuchikh Myshei Cave,
4. Russia, Novosibirsk Oblast, Egor’evskaya (=Suenganskaya) Cave,
5. Russia, Kemerovo Oblast, Gavrilovskaya I (Bol’shaya Gavrilovskaya) Cave,
6. Russia, Altai Krai, Yashchur Cave,
1♂ [2a].
This species has Siberio-Central Asian boreo-montane range (
In the
1♀ [3].
Troglophilic species (
3♀ [3].
This species is distributed from the Tyumen Oblast of Russia, through the Pavlodar Region of Kazakhstan to the Altai Mountains (
1♀ [3].
This species has a Mongolian range (
1♂ [1], 1♂ 2♀ 1juv. [2a], 2♂ 2♀ [2b].
This is a troglophilic species (
1♀ [2b].
This species has a Trans-Palaearctic boreal range and is widespread in Siberia (
Of six explored caves, spiders were found only in three, which are the most short and shallow: the Gavrilovskaya II Cave (length 32 m/depth 0 m (horizontal cave)/3 spider species), the Letuchikh Myshei Cave (87 m/0 m/3 species) and the Barsukovskaya Cave (195 m/19 m/1 species). These caves are relatively dry and due to their small length and depth they are warm in summer time. Caves, where spiders were not found, are longer and deeper: the Egor’evskaya Cave (208 m/33 m), the Gavrilovskaya I Cave (280 m/15 m) and the Yashchur Cave (404 m/69 m). These three caves are colder and much wetter. It can be assumed that in most caves in the Southwestern Siberia, temperatures are too low for spiders and the troglophilous spider fauna is scarce and distributed very locally.
I am grateful to Yu.V. Dyachkov (Barnaul, Russia), E.Yu. Kulikov (Rubtsovsk, Russia) and V.V. Sergeev (Novosibirsk, Russia) for being a great help in collecting. I also thank R.V. Yakovlev and A.N. Cherepanov (both from Barnaul) for their help in the organization of the field trip, where the part of material treated here was collected. Special thanks to A.V. Tanasevitch (Moscow, Russia) and Yu.M. Marusik (Magadan, Russia) for the help with identification of