Spiders (Araneae) from the islands of Hitra, Frøya and the Froan archipelago in Sør-Trøndelag, Central Norway

Abstract

The paper reports on spiders captured in various heathland, bog and forest habitats during an expedition to the islands of Hitra and Frøya and the Froan archipelago in coastal parts of Central Norway by the Museum of Natural History and Archaeology. A total of 81 species from 17 families were found, based on material from both pitfall traps and manual collecting. No less than 14 species have never before been found in Trøndelag and two new families are also recorded (Liocranidae and Mimetidae). The species associations of the remote archipelago of Froan show large similarities to the fauna of the larger islands and the mainland and an island effect is not clearly seen. Typical forest species are established on the only forested island of the Froan archipelago, the majority of which were not found in other sites. The spider fauna of the bogs, heaths and forests are largely similar in composition to that reported from coastal islands in western parts of Hordaland.