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Abstract. The aim of this study was to determine the species richness of jumping spiders in Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape (RSPL), Bohol, Philippines. Field sampling was conducted on June 8-15, 2015 for 64 man-hours using beat-netting and vial-tapping methods from all the field layers. One hundred eighteen individuals belonging to 45 species and 21 genera were recorded. Highest species richness (H′ = 2.441) was recorded in barangay Nueva vida este. Cytaea sp. was the most abundant species. Emathis makilingensis was identified as a new record to Bohol. The result of this study showed high species diversity and greater evenness of salticids in RSPL. However, the overall estimated species richness in the study area is 148 species or more which means that there are still several species of jumping spiders in RSPL, Bohol Island to be discovered in future studies.
Key Words: beat-netting, Cytaea, Emathis makilingensis, evenness, vial-tapping.
Introduction. Jumping spiders (Salticidae) are the most speciose family of spiders, with more than 500 described genera and about 5,000 described species (Richman et al 2005). They are one of the expert silent predators in the tea and paddy ecosystems that feed on small insects like moths, butterflies, beetles, aphids, hoppers etc., which help maintain ecological equilibrium by suppressing insect pest (Chetia & Kalita 2012). These spiders resemble ants in body form and move like ants (Cutler & Edwards 2002). They are commonly known because of their springing movements especially when they are alarmed and hunt on vegetation. Most of them do not spin webs or use silk to capture prey (Cutler & Edwards 2002), but they build silk nests in which they moult, oviposit, sometimes mate, and use during other periods of inactivity (Jackson 1986). Edwards (2000) reported that this type of species is commonly found in open woodland and the smaller salticids are often found in the herbaceous zone. The subfamily Euophryinae is one of the most speciose groups of jumping spiders worldwide (Edwards 2002). Peng et al (1993) had described 130 species in 46 genera of jumping spiders. Most of the salticids live in the tropics, hence, they can be found everywhere the sun shines and hide during night and rainfall. They occur in a range of microhabitats from beneath leaf litter up into...