Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology

Spiders are important generalist predators in rice agroecosystems and can contribute to the natural regulation of arthropod pests. Surveys were conducted from June to October during the kharif seasons of 2015 and 2016 in rice-growing areas of Sundernagar, Jogindernagar, Nurpur, and Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India. The objective of the present study is to provide taxonomic notes and diagnostic morphological information for Araneus tubabdominus and Micropholcus fauroti recorded from rice-growing areas of Himachal Pradesh. Sampling employed visual searching, hand-picking, an inverted umbrella to dislodge spiders, beating vegetation, examining foliage and woody plant surfaces, deploying pitfall traps, and extracting specimens from leaf litter. The collected material was examined using stereo zoom binocular microscopes, and taxonomic status was assessed using the taxonomic literature cited in the manuscript. Eighteen spider species belonging to 11 families were recorded, with Araneidae and Tetragnathidae being dominant and Tetragnatha and Neoscona occurring most frequently. The present taxonomic account focuses on Araneus tubabdominus Zhu & Zhang, 1993 (Araneidae) and Micropholcus fauroti (Simon, 1887) (Pholcidae) collected from the rice ecosystem of Himachal Pradesh. Diagnostic somatic and genital characters of the examined specimens are described to support species identification. Araneus tubabdominus is distinguished by its elongated, tubular abdomen and characteristic female genital morphology, including the epigynal and internal genital structures. The examined male of Micropholcus fauroti is characterised by a pale body, globose abdomen, distinctive ocular arrangement, and diagnostic palpal structures. The observations provide locality-specific taxonomic information for these two spider species and add morphological documentation relevant to their identification and distribution in India.