Study on the Diversity and Distribution of Spider Fauna at Sree Krishna College Campus of Thrissur District, Kerala, India

Field survey was conducted to record the diversity of spiders at different sites in the Sree Krishna College Campus of Thrissur district during September 2022 to February 2023. Around 51 species of spiders belonging to 36 genera under 14 families were recorded. Salticidae family was represented with twelve species followed by Araneidae (10 sps.), Oxyopidae (5 sps.), Theridiidae (4 sps.), Lycosidae, (3 sps.), Tetragnathidae (3 sps.) and Sparassidae (3 sps.), Thomisidae (2 sps.), Pholcidae (2 sps.). But, Hersilidae, Linyphiidae, Uloboridae, Cheiracanthiidae and Sicariidae family members were very less. Spider population in different sites exhibited variation in species abundance and richness. Shannon index, Simpson index, Margalef Richness index, Berger-Parker index and Menhinick’s Index evaluated were 3.423, 0.9580, 9.540, 0.9101and 3.709 respectively. The abundance and percent occurrence of different spider species revealed variation in their distribution. For the study the entire campus has been surveyed, by dividing the area into four sites, Site A, Site B, Site C and Site D. Species composition and diversity indices studies revealed that more diversity in the site C followed by Site D, Site B and Site A. These types of surveys are important for the study of the prevalence of the spider population in given habitats and to create a biodiversity database of spider.