Congratulations to Mykola Kovblyuk ! It is one of the most important papers on regional biogeography of Crimea Kovblyuk M. M. Spiders (Arachnida, Aranei) of Crimea: Faunogenesis and Hypothesis of Pontida. Ukrainska Entomofaunistyka, 2014, 5(2), 29–53. Species diversity of spiders in Crimea is as rich as in adjoining regions and Mediterranean islands. Fauna of the mountain area has been developed since Miocene. The evidences for ancient age of the fauna are two endemic monotypic genera Deliriosa and Spinestis as well as nearly 20 endemic species with the distribution ranges restricted by the mountain area. Fauna of Crimean plain area is not endemic. No autochthonous adaptive radiation of endemic groups of spiders in Crimea is found. Caucasus shows the earliest faunal connection with Crimea. This connection seems to date back to Miocene and possibly could be established through the Shatsky Ridge. The ancient age of this land bridge is confirmed by Crimean endemic species Parasyrisca marusiki closely related to Caucasian alpine species and the existence of archaic and taxonomically separate Crimean-Caucasian mountain-forest species Bisetifer cephalotus and Stemonyphantes agnatus. During the Messinian crisis, a number of species migrated to Crimea through the area, which is the Black Sea floor now; there were ancestors of Crimean endemic species Spinestis nikita and Synaphris lehtineni, and also some Mediterranean species among them. Turan halophilic and intertidal species of spiders, such as Gnaphosa cumensis and G. ukrainica, penetrated to Crimea along the Manych Strait during a transgression of Akchagyl age. Ancient cave fauna of Crimea was extinct after flooding the caves during the Akchagyl transgression, and now it consists of species, which recently colonized the caves. During the Pleistocene glaciations, deciduous forests of the mountain area were connected with those of the Western Caucasus and the Balkans. These connections are indicated by the Crimean-Caucasian (Dysdera dunini, Harpactea spasskyi, Pardosa buchari, Pirata hurkai, Xysticus spasskyi) and Crimean-Balkan mountain-forest species (Amaurobius strandi and Araeoncus tauricus). In xerothermic age of Holocene the shelf zone of the Black Sea was a land, and faunas of Crimea, Caucasus, Asia Minor and the Balkans exchanged through that area. Pontian disjunctive ranges were continuous once; they extended through areas now flooded by the Black Sea. Andrusov and Shatsky ridges served as land bridges in Tertiary, and the shelf zone in Quaternary. This was Pontida, a hypothetical ancient land now covered by the Black Sea. Transgression led to the rupture of ranges. This is how the Crimean-Caucasus-Asia Minor (Gnaphosa jucunda), Crimean-Balkan (Zelotes eugenei, Zoropsis lutea), Crimean-Asia Minor (Cozyptila thaleri, Crosbyarachne bukovskyi), Crimean-Balkan-Asia Minor (Maimuna vestita, Saitis tauricus, Heriaeus orientalis, Zodarion morosum), Crimea-Caucasus-Balkan-Asia Minor (Drassyllus crimeaensis, Trachyzelotes malkini, Palliduphantes khobarum) disjunctive ranges originated. The connection of Crimea to the mainland of Ukraine established not earlier than in the Pleistocene. Then Crimean-South-eastern European species (Tegenaria lapicidinarum, Harpactea azowensis, Zelotes fuscus = Z. kukushkini, Centromerus abditus, Pelecopsis steppensis, Alopecosa cronebergi, A. kovblyuki, Titanoeca ukrainica) colonized Crimea. As a result, vicariant pairs of species co-exist in Crimea: an endemic species or a Crimean-Caucasian species occurs in upper altitudinal zones, and a species with a steppe or Asia Minor range in lower altitude zones. https://drive.google/file/d/0B2r3khZ1092SRmZleVIzMVNGZm8/view
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 16:48:03 +0000