Genus: Attulus

Taking the regular overwintering of spider species in land snail shells as a model, we studied environmental conditions affecting the choice of overwintering sites in three jumping spider species: Pellenes tripunctatus, Pellenes nigrociliatus, and Attulus penicillatus. The research was conducted at 11 steppe localities on calcareous bedrock with abundant empty shells (mainly Caucasotachea vindobonensis and Xerolenta obvia). We documented 889 shells and collected 186 of them, of which 113 were inhabited by 146 spider individuals (13 species). Our three focal species made up 81.5% of these. We found different environmental preferences between the sexes in Pellenes tripunctatus and Pellenes nigrociliatus. These females preferred shells with more vegetation nearby. In the case of Pellenes tripunctatus, these were shells with a higher proportion of herbs, whereas Pellenes nigrociliatus selected for a higher proportion of moss. In the immediate vicinity of the shells, environmental conditions did not differ significantly. We found insufficient Attulus penicillatus to determine any preferences. We also recorded six overwintering Pellenes tripunctatus individuals in a single shell (in environmental conditions preferred by females), consisting of five females and one male, which indicated an unusual social behavior for these spider species.

V roce 2012–2013 byl proveden první inventarizační průzkum pavouků v NPR Zástudánčí. Na území rezervace bylo zjištěno 117 druhů pavouků z 21 čeledí. Druhy Arctosa cinerea, Caviphantes saxetorum, Clubiona germanica a Sitticus dzieduszyckii jsou zařazeny v červeném seznamu pavouků ČR a jsou zároveň nejvýznamnějšími nálezy. Pavučenka Caviphantes saxetorum je novým druhem pro Českou republiku. Nejzajímavější společenstvo pavouků bylo zjištěno na štěrkových náplavech v meandru řeky Moravy.

Open interior sands represent a highly threatened habitat in Europe. In recent times, their associated organisms have often found secondary refuges outside their natural habitats, mainly in sand pits. We investigated the effects of different restoration approaches, i.e. spontaneous succession without additional disturbances, spontaneous succession with additional disturbances caused by recreational activities, and forestry reclamation, on the diversity and conservation values of spiders, beetles, flies, bees and wasps, orthopterans and vascular plants in a large sand pit in the Czech Republic, Central Europe. Out of 406 species recorded in total, 112 were classified as open sand specialists and 71 as threatened. The sites restored through spontaneous succession with additional disturbances hosted the largest proportion of open sand specialists and threatened species. The forestry reclamations, in contrast, hosted few such species. The sites with spontaneous succession without disturbances represent a transition between these two approaches. While restoration through spontaneous succession favours biodiversity in contrast to forestry reclamation, additional disturbances are necessary to maintain early successional habitats essential for threatened species and open sand specialists.  Therefore, recreational activities seem to be an economically efficient restoration tool that will also benefit biodiversity in sand pits.