Linyphiidae, Blackwall, 1859

Franc, Valerián & Hemala, Vladimír, 2020, New remarkable records of myrmecophilous spiders (Araneae) in Slovakia, Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis Studia Naturae 5, pp. 61-65 : 62

Linyphiidae

1) Acartauchenius scurrilis (O. P.-Cambridge, 1873) – occurs sporadically and scarcely in xerothermic grasslands and also live near ants ( Nentwig et al., 2020). It was documented also warm dry oak forests, sand habitats, stone habitats, etc. and from anthropogenic habitats (e.g. vineyards).

Host ants: Lasius niger L., L. avus Fabricius , Formica rufa L. and Tetramorium caespitum L. ( Cushing, 1997; Buchar, Růžička, 2002). Obenberger (1949) and Miller (1971) mentioned only T. caespitum . Apparently, it highly prefers the last ant species ( Franc, 2007).

Recent record: Domaníky (48°15ʹ35.30” N, 18°58ʹ44.08” E, 208 m a. s. l.), andesite rocky grassland, in the colony of T. caespitum , May 4, 2020, 3 ♂ and 2 ♀. A relatively large number of records from Slovakia are available ( Gajdoš et al., 1999; Franc, 2007).

The further recent record: Jurský Šúr surroundings (7769), April 2009 – 2011, 2 specimens ( Dankaninová, Gajdoš, 2012); Malé Kršteňany (7376), April 2015 ( Franc, Fašanga, 2017); Dolné Vestenice (7276), April – May 2010 ( Melicherčíková, 2010).

2) hvyreosthenius biovatus (O. P.-Cambridge, 1875) – occurs sporadically and rarely together with ants ( Nentwig et al., 2020) especially in forests and grasslands of warmer areas, though it may be locally abundant.

Host ants: Formica polyctena Foerster , F. pratensis Retzius , F. fusca L. and F. sanguinea Latreille ( Cushing, 1997; Buchar, Růžička, 2002), also F. lugubris Zetterstedt ( Robinson, 1998). Miller (1971) mentioned the same ant species except as F. polyctena , while Obenberger (1949) noted only F. pratensis and F. rufa . It has also occasionally been recorded away from ant nests ( Roberts, 1987).

Recent records: Hajnáčka (48°12ʹ46.74” N, 19°56ʹ17.93” E, 290 m a. s. l.) in the colony of Formica rufa in the older deciduous forest (beech, oak and hornbeam) February 17, 2019, more than 10 ♀ V. Franc and V. Hemala lgt.; Banská Štiavnica – the ‘Little Water Damʹ (48°28ʹ05.48ʺ N, 18°53ʹ03.94ʺ E, 778 m a. s. l.), in the colony of F. rufa in a mixed forest February 14, 2020, 8 ♀, V. Franc and V. Hemala lgt. et coll.

Only a few records from Slovakia are available, for example: the town of Banská Bystrica (7280) ( Franc, 2007) and surroundings ( Franc, 2005); the Hronská pahorkatina hills (804), Dudich et al. 1940 (in Gajdoš et al., 1999); Malanta near the town of Nitra (7674d) ( Gajdoš, 1993) and in the town Žilina (6778) ( Kratochvíl, Miller, 1937). It is a little-known species, due to its hidden way of life, but it actually seems to be rather abundant.