Dr. Fernando Alvarez Padilla
Welcome
The Pico de Orizaba spider inventory includes 294 species of Araneomorphae and seven morphospecies of pseudoscorpions documented with 4,099 standard views. At the moment we are working on publishing the ecological and taxonomic data.
These arachnids were collected in two oak forests fragments in the locality of Atotonilco, and two oak and wet forest fragments in the locality of Xamaticpac separated by 15 kms. Inside each forest two one hectare plots were established and visited three times a year from 2012 to 2014. Sampling protocols included six methods divided by hours during day and night. Collecting methods included 'beating', 'cryptic' and pitfall traps. 'Looking up' and 'looking down' were combined in 'vegetation' because of the steep slope were the plots were established. Leaf litter was processed with 24 Berlese funnels of 45 cm in diameter per plot and 30 pitfall traps left for six active days.
Locality data: kml file.
Mexico, Veracruz, Calcahualco, Atotonilco. Pico de Orizaba Volcano National Park. Oak forest fragments. Plot I (1 ha). Central coordinates 19.12569444, -97.06755556, Alt. 2,300 m. Plot II (1 ha). Central coordinates 19.29483333, -97.2045, Alt. 2,388 m.
Mexico, Veracruz, Calcahualco, Xamaticpac. Pico de Orizaba Volcano National Park. Oak and tropical wet forest fragments. Plot I (1ha). Central coordinates 19.14172222, -97.20597222, Alt. 1,710 m. Plot II (1ha). Central coordinates 19.12613889, -97.06708333, Alt. 1,700 m.
Send your comments and identifications to this email: fap@ciencias.unam.mx
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Armando Fuertes from the National Park Volcan Pico de Orizaba for all his support and presenting us to the wonderful people from Atotonilco de Calcahualco; we would like to thank in particular Mr. Isidoro Contreras, Ms. Mercedes Contreras, Mr. Nicolas and Ms. Noemi for all the help and delicious meals. Thanks to the International collaborators Facundo Labarque, Danielle Polotow and Thiago Silva for their participation in one of the 2012 expeditions. And also thanks to the following students that participated in this inventory: Uriel Garcilazo Cruz, Francisco Andrés Rivera Quiroz, Miguel Hernández Patricio, Francisco Javier Salgueiro Sepulveda, Dulce Flor Pierda Jiménez, Mariana Servín Pastor, Maira Saraí Montejo Cruz, Leonel Perez Miguel and Francisco Emmanuel Méndez Castro.
Funding was provided by UNAM-DGAPA-PAPIIT project IN213612.
Picture captions: Left picture standing: Mr. Francisco, Andrés, Mariana, Fernando, Miguel, Salgueiro. Sitting: Dulce, Mr. Isidoro's daughter, Uriel, Mr. Nicolas daughther, Ms. Mercedes, Mr. Isidoro, Ms. Noemi and Mr. Nicolas with his daughter. Right picture caption: Andrés, Salgueiro, Facundo, Danielle, Uriel, Miguel, Fernando and Thiago.