Taxonomy Of The Spider Family Tetragnathidae From Mts.Gaoligong, Yunnan Province, China (Arachnida: Araneae)

Tetragnathidae,also called long jawed spiders,are a large spider family including 938 known species in 48 genera worldwide(Platnick 2008),of which about 106 species of 17 genera are distributed in China(Zhu,Song & Zhang 2003).The spiders of Tetragnathidae are small to middling size.Usually female is larger than male.Tetragnathidae are resident spiders and live on grasses,shrubs,forest,the forest edge,as well as the plants on dry paddy fields,streams,river bank.And often spin level or slightly inclined round webs.The spiders usually capture by the web.Their biological characters are as follow:flesh-eater,fast reproduction,high adaptability and long life. Tetragnathidae play a major role in the control of pests from farm and forest.The Gaoligong Mountains of Yunnan Province is famous for its special geography and abundant propagation.This unique entironment makes it to be a biodiversity hotspot of the world.The taxonomy of Tetragnathidae from this area is studied in this paper for the first time based on 177 specimens.A total of 31 species,including 10 new species and a supplement of female,belonging to 8 genera are reported.All species are described and illustrated.A total of 184 figures in 38 plates,including 135 figures in 28 plates cited from other papers,are given.Meanwhile,this paper introduced the research history and configuration characters of Tetragnathidae,and also the natural physiognomy and biodiversity state of the collection region.