New faunistic and taxonomic data on the spider fauna of Albania (Arachnida: Araneae).

The goals of this study are 1) to present the results of a new faunistic survey carried out during short, mainly spring vacation trips, through four years (2012–2014 and 2017) in different sites in Albania
2) to present digital images of some poorly illustrated and difficult to identify species
3) to make a contribution to the available knowledge of the Albanian spider fauna. Despite the material being collected without prior methodology and almost exclusively by hand, overall, 1231 individuals were collected and identified. A total of 242 species were registered, belonging to 131 genera and 30 families. Two species (Philodromus buchari Kubcová 2004 and Synema ornatum (Thorell, 1875)) are reported for the first time from the Balkan Peninsula, and 67 species and 15 genera are the first records for Albania. Thus, the actual number of Albanian spiders increased to 569 species.