User:Kaldari/New records of the exotic jumping spider Pseudeuophrys erratica (Araneae: Salticidae) in the United States

''This is a draft document. The final published version resides at http://peckhamia.com/peckhamia/PECKHAMIA_188.1.pdf.''

Pseudeuophrys erratica (Walckenaer 1826), is a jumping spider in the subfamily Euophryinae. It is native to Europe and Western Siberia (Logunov 1998), and was first reported as an introduction to North America in 1982 (Cutler). We report new North American records for this species in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont, as well as a confirmed observation in Eugene, Oregon, suggesting that this species may now be established on both sides of the United States.

Pseudeuophrys erratica
Pseudeuophrys Dahl 1912 is a genus of small to medium-sized Palearctic jumping spiders in the subfamily Euophryinae. The type species for the genus, Pseudeuophrys erratica (Walckenaer 1826) has a widespread distribution in Europe and Asia. A single female of the species was collected in 1981 by Bruce Cutler in Oradell, New Jersey (part of the New York City Metropolitan Area), and the species was subsequently reported as new to North America (Cutler 1982). The species has been collected at the same locality several times since then (Cutler 1990). Specimens were collected from fences and woodpiles in a suburban environment (Cutler 1990). In 1983, the species was found inside a building in New York City (Edwards 2003).

Since these initial reports, over a hundred additional sighting of Pseudeuophrys erratica have been recorded in the United States on websites such as iNaturalist and BugGuide, as well as in the DNA sequence database, GenBank. The species has become relatively common in the Boston and New York City areas where it is often found on or inside buildings in suburban areas. It's range now spans across most of the Northeastern United States, extending as far north as Burlington, Vermont, and as far west as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Fig. 1).

Recently, two specimens were also collected in Eugene, Oregon. Photos of these two specimens were posted on BugGuide in April 2018. They were tentatively identified as Pseudeuophrys by Chad Heins, and later confirmed as Pseudeuophrys erratica by Ken Schneider and Tim Manolis through examination of the pedipalps (Fig. X). This appears to represent a distinct population of the species on the West Coast of the United States.

Pseudeuophrys erratica has previously been reported from a wide range of habitats including forests, bogs, meadows, rock outcrops, beach cliffs, and buildings (Logunov & Marusik 2000, Edwards 2003). It has also been reported from climates as diverse as Portugal, Finland, and Northern Iran (Logunov 1998, Logunov & Marusik 2000). Given the species' adaptability, it would not be surprising if P. erratica became widely distributed across the northern United States and southern Canada, as has occurred with other introduced northern Palaearctic salticids, such as Sitticus fasciger.