Spiders (Araneae) from Five Major Agro-Ecosystems of Jambughoda Village, Panchmahal District, Gujarat, India

Spiders are one of the predatory fauna found in agriculture fields which feeds on a wide range of insect pests and hence acts as buffer to limit pest populations. The present paper deals with the study of spider diversity from five major agriculture fields of Jambughoda village, which lies in the protected area of Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary, Panchmahal district, Gujarat. A total of 67 species belonging to 43 genera and 17 different families were recorded during the study. Araneidae and Salticidae were found to be dominant families followed by Oxyopidae and Thomisidae. Maximum diversity of spider was recorded from corn fields due the complexity in the structure which provides more hiding places for spiders to inhabit. Also these agricultural fields lie in the forest area which has potential to maintain the spider populations in agricultural fields by providing alternative habitat to sustain spiders when the fields are disturbed during farming practices.