Prairie spiders of Alberta and Saskatchewan

Abstract

In the prairie ecozone of Alberta and Saskatchewan, 356 species of spiders in 2 I families have been collected. The 10 families with the most species were Linyphiidae (30%), Gnaphosidae (13%), Salticidae (8%), Theridiidae (8%), Lycosidae (8%), Dictynidae (6%), Thomisidae (6%), Araneidae (5%), Philodromidae (5%) and Clubionidae (3%). These 10 families constituted 91% of the spider biodiversity. In the grassland region ofthe prairie ecozone, there were relatively more species of Gnaphosidae, Lycosidae, Theridiidae, Thomisidae, Dictynidae and Philodomidae and fewer Linyphiidae and Clubionidae than for all provincial ecozones combined. The percentages in the parkland region of the prairie ecozone tended to be intermediate.