Fróðskaparrit - 01.07.2004, Page 60

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SPIDERS (ARANEAE) IN THE FAROE ISLANDS: A REVISED CHECKLIST
AND AN UPDATE ON INTER-ISLAND DISTRIBUTIONS
July-August 1984, see stations K4-K6 be-
low, and 3 in the years 1994-1995) and 2 at
Skálatoftir (1994), all in rich, grassy habi-
tats.
On Kunoy, a narrow mountainous is-
land, pitfall traps were operated (with some
intermissions) at 13 sites (denoted stations
K1-K13) in summer 1983 and between
March 1984 and September 1985. The sites
were located in the vicinity of the settle-
ment Kunoy, situated on the western side of
the island, and across the island to the aban-
doned settlement at Skarð (see above) on
the eastern side. The habitats investigated
ranged from infíelds to outfíelds at lower
and medium altitudes, and to higher moun-
tain sites with sparse vegetation. The in-
fíeld stations were at Kunoy (Kl, 65 m
a.s.l.) and Skarð (K4-K6; the stations re-
ferred to above) and the outfield stations
were just north of the settlement at Kunoy
(K9 and KIO, 30 m and 140 m a.s.l., re-
spectively), in Skiðudalur (K2 and K3, 140
and 350 m, respectively), in Skarðsdalur
above the settlement (K8, 270 m), in
Skarðsgjógv above Skarð (Kll and K12,
150 and 290 m, respectively), and at high
altitudes in Skarðsgjógv (K7, 620 m) and
Urðarfjall (K13, 800 m).
At the northern end of Eysturoy, traps
were run at 5 stations from November 1979
to August 1981 in dwarf shrub heaths
around the lake Eiðisvatn (Fig. 1). Due to
the construction of a dam for hydroelectric
development the stations were later set un-
der water.
The longest run of trapping (1979-87)
was conducted in Dalsskarð in Havnardalur
(ca. 2 km W Tórshavn on Streymoy) along
an altitudinal gradient with 6 stations (st. 1
- 6: 165, 265, 310, 385, 445, and 460 m
a.s.l., respectively). The slope at the trap-
ping stations is facing S or W and the grass
heath vegetation is mostly rather sparse
with wet patches of open ground and many
boulders, especially at the lowest and two
highest levels, and only at st. 2 does vege-
tation fully cover the ground (Danielsen
and Hansen, 2000).
Also on Streymoy, 4 trapping stations in
the vicinity of Sund, not far from Tórshavn
(see Fig. 1), were surveyed in the period
February-October 1984. St. 1 was an in-
fíeld site at the farm Sund, st. 2 below the
cliffs (hamrarna) above the farm, st. 3 a
meadow near the small river, and st. 4 was
located some distance from the farm at
Sundshálsur and ca. 280 m a.s.l.
Altogether 10,010 specimens and 67
species of adult spiders were identified (by
E.H.) and the largest samples were collect-
ed in Havnardalur (ca. 3000 inds), at Eiðis-
vatn (ca. 2750 inds), on Kunoy (ca. 600
inds), and at Sund (ca. 550 inds). The ma-
terial also includes a small number of spec-
imens, mostly collected indoors and sent by
the public to the Museum of Natural Histo-
ry in Tórshavn for identification.
The material will be deposited in the
collections of the Museum of Zoology,
University of Lund, Sweden.
Annotated checklist
The list includes all species that have hith-
erto been recorded in the Faroes. Species
here reported for the fírst time for the is-
lands are marked with an asterisk. For pre-
vious information on the spiders of the