A checklist of spiders in tea plantations of China

BACKGROUND: Spiders are the most dominant predatory natural enemies of insect pests in the tea plantation ecosystem. There has been a large amount of literature published about the investigation of spider species in Chinese tea plantations from 1982 to 2020. Here, the spider species in Chinese tea plantations has been summarised and the dominant spider species in each regional tea plantation recorded. To date, there were 535 spider species from 40 families reported in Chinese tea plantations. NEW INFORMATION: There are 245 spider species from 13 families now being added to the checklist. A total of 89 spider species from 19 families were the dominant species, amongst them, Agelena labyrinthica, Allagelena difficilis, Neoscona theisi, Clubiona deletrix, Clubiona japonicola, Hylyphantes graminicola, Pardosa laura, Oxyopes sertatus, Evarcha albaria, Plexippus paykulli, Coleosoma octomaculatum, Ebrechtella tricuspidata and Xysticus ephippiatus were recorded in many tea plantations. The checklist will provide important data for the biodiversity and distribution of spiders in tea plantations of China.