Faunistic diversity of spiders (Araneae) in Galichitsa mountain (FYR Macedonia)

Abstract A total of 294 species from 31 families have been found in Galichitsa Mt. Of them, 85 species are new to the mountain, while 20 are also new to the fauna of FYR of Macedonia. According to their current distribution the established species can be assigned to 17 zoogeographical categories, grouped into 5 complexes (Cosmopolitan, Holarctic, European, Mediterranean, Endemics of Balkans). Dominant are Holarctic species (66.0%) followed by European (16.5%) and Mediterranean (9.3%). The endemics (6.2%) and Southeast European species (1.7%) emphasize the local character of this fauna, but its low percentage suggests an important process of colonization.


Introduction
The first reports for the spider fauna of Galichitsa Mt. came from Drensky (1929), Drensky (1936) and Stojićević (1929). This information was summarized later by Drensky (1936), who reported 83 species. Additional data can be found again in the papers of Šilhavý (1944), Nikolić and Polenec (1981), Deeleman-Reinhold and Deeleman (1988), Deltshev et al. (2000), Lazarov (2004), Wunderlich (1973) and Wunderlich (1985). All these data are summarized by Blagoev (2002). The aim of this study is to present a review of the spider fauna of Galichitsa Mt. due to critical incorporation of available literature data and unpublished faunistic records carried out by sporadic research in the last 10 years.

Materials and methods
The spider material treated herein comes from two major sources. The first part comprises critical incorporation of all available literature records concerning the distribution of spiders of Galichitsa Mt. The second part comprises original collections made in the last 10 years during field surveys covering most of the territory of the mountain (Fig. 4, Table 1). The spiders have been collected mainly by hand, under stones, by sweeping and sewing (Figs 5,6,7). The names of the collectors: P. Beron  Table 1. The taxonomic arrangements of the species list follow Platnick (2013). The material is deposited in the Natural History Museum (Skopje) and National Museum of Natural History (Sofia).  Drensky 1929, Drensky 1936Stojićević 1929;Wunderlich 1973, Wunderlich 1985 Blagoev & C. Deltshev  Table 1.
List of the localities where spiders have been collected in Galichitsa Mts.

Checklist of the spiders in Galichitsa Mts
Family ATYPIDAE

Species composition
A total of 294 species of spiders from 31 families have been found in Galichitsa Mt. New for the mountain are 85 species, 20 of them are also new to the spider fauna of FYR of Macedonia. High species richness was recorded for 5 of the families: Linyphiidae -40 species, Lycosidae -37 species, Gnaphosidae -31 species, Araneidae -27, and Theridiidae -24 species ( Table 2). The degree of exploration of the group in the mountain is about 60%. The number of the species of Galichitsa Mt is high and represents about 45% of the spider fauna of the country (Blagoev 2002). This is also evident from a comparison with the number of spiders reported from the other mountains in the Balkan Peninsula: West Rhodopes -418 (38%) Deltshev et al. 2011), Pirin -324 (30%) (Deltshev and Blagoev 1997), Rila -280 (26%) (Deltshev et al. 2000a), Central Stara Planina -270 (25%) (Deltshev et al. 2000b

Zoogeographical analysis
According to their current distribution the established 294 species can be classified into 16 zoogeographic categories, grouped into 5 chorological complexes (Cosmopolitan; Holarctic; European; Mediterranean; Endemic) ( Table 3, Fig. 10). The data concerning the Table 2.
Family composition of the spiders of Galichitsa Mt.

Cosmopolitan species complex
Cosmopolitan species complex (COS + SCO) includes only 6 (2%) species widespread in Europe. While the species Pholcus phalangioides, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, Steatoda triangulosa, and Tegenaria domestica are connected with human buildings, Prinerigone vagans can be accepted as a mountain element. The species is well represented in the woodlands and high altitude zones of the mountains. Tetragnatha nitens was reported from the Galichitsa Mt by Drensky (1929), and there is no new data on its distribution in the mountain.
This complex includes especially widespread species associated with lowlands, woodlands and high altitude zones of mountains. Most of the species are well represented in the mountains. Characteristic mountain elements are Frontinellina frutetorum, Gongilidium rufipes, Pityohyphantes phrygianus, Tenuiphantes tenuis, Trichoncus affinis, Drassodes lapidosus, Haplodrassus signifer. Some xenotopic species are widely distributed in the mountains and reach the highest summits as aeronauts (Thaler 1986). Meioneta rurestris and Oedothorax agrestis, which inhabit the mountain zone in dense populations, also belong to this complex.
Distribution of the spiders of Galichitsa Mt by zoogeographical categories.