Seasonal Diversity and Status of Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) in Cashew Ecosystem

Spiders are recorded as indigenous natural enemies of tea mosquito bug (Helopeltis spp.), which is one of the major economically important pests of cashew. Consecutive survey for three years revealed occurrence of 117 species of spiders belonging to 18 families viz., Araneidae, Clubionidae, Corinnidae, Gnaphosidae, Hersilidae, Linyphiidae, Lycosidae, Miturgidae, Nephilidae, Oxyopidae, Pholcidae, Pisauridae, Salticidae, Sparassidae, Tetragnathidae, Theridiiae, Thomisidae and Uloboridae. Of these, 30 species were classified as very common, 26 species common, 34 species rare and 27 species very rare. Salticids were predominant (30 %) and Araneidae contributed 22 % of the spider fauna. Shannon index, Simpson index, Evenness index and Margalef Richness index evaluated were 4.20, 0.04, 0.50 and 14.73, respectively. Spiders belonged to 7 feeding guilds and population was higher during winter and monsoon season. The present investigation will form baseline for the new approaches in IPM strategies of cashew.