The present research was conducted during May 2009 to September 2010 to explore the spider fauna of FR Peshawar, FATA, Pakistan. Spiders were collected and identified. Their 23 species belonging to 15 genera and 09 families were reported. The reported families Clubionidae, Scytodidae and Sprassidae covered 4%, Araneidae, Gnaphosidae, Pholicidae and Salticidae 9%, Thomisidae 13% and Lycosidae 43% biodiversity of spiders of FATA. However, the largest spider collected was huntsman, Isopoda tuhodnigra (Barrion) with total body length 15.80±0.83 mm. Moreover, the smallest spider was wolf spider, Pardosa birmanica (Simon) with total body length 4.20±1.30 mm. Further, the daddy long leg, Crossopriza lyoni (Blackwall) has the longest legs with first leg length 49.70±3.71 mm and last leg length 41.50±3.13 mm. Furthermore, jumping spider Plexippus paykullii (Audouni) has the smallest legs with first leg length 5.8±0.83 mm and last leg 4.50±0.83 mm. However, the crab spiders, Thomisus pugilis (Stoliczka), T. spectabilis (Doleschall) and Diaea evanida (Thorell) were the most colorful species belonging to family Thomisidae. Moreover, most of the species recorded have brown and grayish in color.

Autorentext

Chairperson, Deptt. of Zoology, Hazara University, Garden Campus, Pakistan; BSc(Hons);MSc(Zool.: Entomol.);MAS(Nagoya University,Jpn);PhD(Toxicol.:Goldmedalist);MEXT Scholar, HEC Approve Supervisor of BS/ MS/ MSc/ MPhil/PhD; Publications 50 & Books 18; Research Interest:Zoology,Entomology,Wildlife Management, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, Genetics.