Community Structure, Dominance, and Ecological Assessment of Phintella (Salticidae) and Associated Spiders in a Semi-Natural Urban Habitat

This research explores the phenomenon of the Phintella family of spiders and their ecological distribution in Vaijanti Bagan, a specialized Canna lily garden located in the region of Prayagraj, India. Essentially, the main objective of this research was to understand the extent to which specialization takes place in urban environments regarding the predatory arthropods in the region. As natural habitats get disrupted, the indicator properties of Phintella spiders assume critical importance. Survey work was undertaken in the region of Chandrashekhar Azad Park employing three types of sampling methodologies, viz., manual sampling, sweep net, and pitfall, in the winter and summer seasons. As the focal species, Phintella vittata, was initially targeted to calculate the sexual dominance index, which was found to be 0.6912. But the greater objective of the overall endeavor was to carry out the community analysis of the spiders. The Simpson's Dominance Index for Phintella spiders was found to be 0.6912. Phintella spiders were found to be abundant within the ecological community, exhibiting a strong habitat association with the architecture of the host plant. This study provides crucial evidence for the role of ornamental gardens in urban biodiversity conservation.