Czechia is one of the arachnologically best researched regions in Europe. So far, 906 spider species have been identified in this country (Buchar and Růžička 2002, Růžička and Buchar 2008, Kůrka et al. 2015, Řezáč et al. 2021). The Czech spider fauna lacks endemic species due to the glacial periods that have occurred. The oldest components of Czech spider fauna are glacial relics that survived in alpine and peat bog habitats and boreal relics that survived in steppe habitats. The Czech spider fauna is thus mainly composed of species with a Palaearctic distribution. Only a very small proportion of the species are endemic to Central Europe; in particular, few Carpathian endemics occur in the mountains in eastern Moravia, and few Pannonian endemics occur in the lowlands in southern Moravia. Many species of natural habitats are disappearing, and 58% of the Czech spider fauna are red listed (Řezáč et al. 2015).
To date, approximately fifty species found in Czechia are considered allochthonous. The majority of them are restricted to buildings. Moreover, some species have colonized the surroundings of buildings. Only a small fraction of spider species introduced to Czechia have invaded natural habitats. In addition to these species introduced by humans, there are also several cases of species that recently expanded their distribution from the south to Czechia, perhaps due to climate warming. According to these criteria we classify the Czech non-native spider species into the following five cathegories. Species identity is based on Nentwig et al. (2023). The nomenclature follows the World Spider Catalog (2023).
History: Newly introduced by humans.
Habitat: Large heated buildings with complex synanthropic habitats, such as large greenhouses with high air humidity and rich prey resources, absent in nature.
Distribution: Mainly tropical regions.
Genus | Species | Description | First record | Squares | Původnost | Threat level | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Family Nesticidae (1x) | |||||||
Howaia | Howaia mogera | (Yaginuma, 1972) | 11/11/2016, Mgr. Ondřej Machač, Ph.D., Olomouc | 2 | I-B-N | ||
Family Ochyroceratidae (1x) | |||||||
Genus | Species | Description | First record | Squares | Původnost | Threat level | |
Theotima | Theotima minutissima | (Petrunkevitch, 1929) | I-B-N | ||||
Family Oonopidae (2x) | |||||||
Genus | Species | Description | First record | Squares | Původnost | Threat level | |
Heteroonops | Heteroonops spinimanus | (Simon, 1892) | I-B-N | ||||
Triaeris | Triaeris stenaspis | Simon, 1892 | 08/13/2017, Ing. Vladimír Hula, Ph.D., Praha | 2 | I-B-N | ||
Family Philodromidae (1x) | |||||||
Genus | Species | Description | First record | Squares | Původnost | Threat level | |
Thanatus | Thanatus vulgaris | Simon, 1870 | 2011, O. Zimmermann (viz Pavouk 2011 (č. 31)) | I-B-N | Not endangered | ||
Family Pholcidae (2x) | |||||||
Genus | Species | Description | First record | Squares | Původnost | Threat level | |
Modisimus | Modisimus culicinus | (Simon, 1893) | 01/02/2016, Praha | 1 | I-B-N | Not endangered | |
Physocyclus | Physocyclus globosus | (Taczanowski, 1874) | I-B-N | ||||
Family Theridiidae (2x) | |||||||
Genus | Species | Description | First record | Squares | Původnost | Threat level | |
Coleosoma | Coleosoma floridanum | Banks, 1900 | 2006, S. Korenko (Šestáková et al. 2013) | I-B-N | Not endangered | ||
Nesticodes | Nesticodes rufipes | (Lucas, 1846) | 1995, prof. RNDr. Jan Buchar, DrSc., Praha, č. o. Praha 2 | 1 | I-B-N |