Rod: Gnaphosa

This work summarises data on the spider fauna (Araneae) of the Šumava Mts. (Bohemian Forest, Böhmerwald) National Park and Protected Landscape Area (southwest Bohemia), in the period 1858–2023. We abstracted data from all available literature and our own research initiated in 1971. In our own research, we focused on all available habitats, both natural ones and those influenced by humans. These included namely peat bogs, mountains forest, mountain meadows, wetlands, riverbanks and buildings. Altogether, we identified a total of 455 spider species, many of which belong among rare and endangered in the Czech Republic. Overview of their ecological preferences and importance for nature conservation are provided. Within the Czech Republic, nine species are found only in Šumava: Carorita limnaea, Centromerus dilutus, Dictyna major, Gnaphosa badia, Gnaphosa microps, Micaria aenea, Pardosa ferruginea, Pardosa hyperborea and Cybaeus tetricus. The last mentioned species is the first record for the Czech Republic.

Members of the genus Gnaphosa belong to the largest gnaphosid spiders. They are particularly interesting in nature conservation as their distribution is mainly restricted to disappearing natural non-forest habitats. In Europe, several Gnaphosa species groups occur. The exclusively Palaearctic group G. bicolor is characterised by a retrolaterally-shifted embolus, which occupies at least part of the middle one-third of the palpal bulb; females have laterally expanded epigyne and often have very elongated median epigynal ducts (Ovtsharenko et al. 1992). So far four species of this group have been identified in Europe, with a fifth species found in Central Asia (G. tarabaevi Ovtsharenko, Platnick & Song, 1992). Two of the European species, G. bicolor (Hahn, 1831) and G. badia (L. Koch, 1866), are well known and their taxonomy and nomenclature is stable, but the same does not hold true for the other two.

Results of the exploration of the araneofauna and the entomofauna in West Bohemian heathlands are presented. Spiders and carabid beetles were collected during the vegetation seasons in 2011 and 2012 by the method of pitfall trapping. In total, 3188 specimens of 171 Araneae species and 2168 specimens of 93 Carabid species were determined. The most frequent spiders were Xerolycosa nemoralis (Westring, 1861), a common forest species. The following identified species are listed among the endangered spiders in the Czech Republic in the category „endangered“: Alopecosa schmidti (Hahn, 1835), Micaria dives (Lucas, 1846),  Peponocranium orbiculatum (O. P.-Cambridge, 1882), in the category „vulnerable“: Centromerus incilium (L. Koch, 1881), Evansia merens O. P.-Cambridge, 1900, Metopobactrus prominulus (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872), Arctosa figurata (Simon, 1876), Arctosa lutetiana (Simon, 1876), Pardosa nigriceps (Thorell, 1872), Gnaphosa bicolor (Hahn, 1833), Xysticus striatipes L. Koch, 1870, Evarcha laetabunda (C. L. Koch, 1846) and Trichopterna cito (Blackwall, 1841). The most remarkable species of the Carabids were the Amara equestris equestris (Duftschmid, 1812), Amara pulpani Kult, 1949, Bradycellus ruficollis (Stephens, 1828), Carabus arcensis arcensis Herbst, 1784, Carabus problematicus harcyniae Sturm, 1815, Cymindis axillaris axillaris (Fabricius, 1794), Cymindis vaporariorum (Linné, 1758), Masoreus wetterhallii wetterhallii (Gyllenhal, 1813), Olisthopus rotundatus rotundatus (Paykull, 1790). Studied material was reposited at the Department of Zoology of the West Bohemian Museum in Pilsen.