Biodiversity of spider species,interactions with horticultural crops and a new record for Turkey

Spiders are an important predator group across many terrestrial crop systems. a survey was conducted in 2009 to determine the compositoin and abundance of spider species in citrus,persimmon,carob,avocado,almond,loquat,fig,and pomegranate plants in the eastern mediterranean region of turkey. spiders were collected by using a beating method with steiner funnel and a hand aspirator. in total,45 spider species were identified from 21 families. the taxonomic families of gnaphosidae,miturgidae,salticidae,theridiidae and thomosidae were commonly sorted. twenty-nine species belonging to 16 families were found on citrus trees. adult/juvenile rate observed was 42%,and male/female rate was 48%,with most juveniles being female. spider biodiversity was determined using the shannon-wiener diversity index according to spider distribution on each crop plant. although each crop sheltered certain spider species,no avocado-specific spiders were found. the biodiversity index was the highest for diponema sp. and chericanthium sp.. among the colllected species was clubiona juvenis (simon,1878) (clubionidae),found on the loquat trees,and representing a new record for this spider species in turkey. copyright © 2015 zoological society of pakistan.