Munis Entomology & Zoology Mun. Ent. Zool. 18 (2) https://www.munisentzool.org/ (June, 2023) ISSN 1306-3022 © MRG ___________________________________________________________ 1448 AN UPDATED CHECKLIST OF THE SPIDER (ARACHNIDA: ARANEAE) FAUNA OF WEST BENGAL, INDIA | Rajendra Singh* | * Department of Zoology, Deendayal Upadhyay University of Gorakhpur, U.P., INDIA. E- mail: rsinghgpu@gmail.com, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7296-9860 [Singh, R. 2023. An updated checklist of the spider (Arachnida: Araneae) fauna of West Bengal, India. Munis Entomology & Zoology, 18 (2): 1448-1503] ABSTRACT: In this article, an updated checklist of spider diversity in the West Bengal state of India is presented. A total of 567 species of spiders described under 245 genera belonging to 39 families are enlisted that have been described and/or recorded from 23 out of 24 districts of West Bengal, India. Maximum species diversity of spiders was observed in Darjeeling (36 families, 157 genera, 299 species) followed by Jalpaiguri (21 families, 89 genera, 164 species), North 24 Parganas (22 families, 72 genera, 143 species), Alipurduar (17 families, 69 genera, 139 species), South 24 Parganas (17 families, 62 genera, 136 species), Kolkata (25 families, 77 genera, 128 species), and Purba Medinipur (22 families, 99 genera, 111 species) and 4-51 species of spiders in other districts. Among the families, Salticidae is the most abundant family which comprises 103 species belonging to 54 genera and is distributed in 21 districts of West Bengal followed by Araneidae (95 species, 36 genera, 21 districts), Lycosidae (62 species, 14 genera, 16 districts), Thomisidae (48 species, 22 genera, 13 districts), Oxyopidae (32 species, 4 genera, 15 districts), Sparassidae (26 species, 8 genera, 12 districts), Gnaphosidae (21 species, 11 genera, 9 districts) and Tetragnathidae (21 species, 4 genera, 19 districts). Representation of other families is moderate (10-20 species) to poor (1-9 species). Ten families are represented by single species and are distributed in only 1-2 districts. Some of the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, forest areas, agricultural fields, human dwellings etc. particularly in terai region of West Bengal still await intensive and extensive survey programmes to record a near complete spider fauna. KEY WORDS: Checklist, Faunal distribution, India, Spiders, West Bengal The members of the order Araneae are commonly called as spiders (Arthropoda: Chelicerata: Arachnida). They are an extremely valuable part of the earth's ecosystem as they not only consume lots of prey, mostly insects but also serve as a food source for many carnivore animals and rarely pose any danger to humans (Nyffeler & Birkhofer, 2017). Spiders have also been gaining importance as ecological indicators owing to their extreme sensitivity to their habitat disturbances (Rutkowski et al., 2018; Stojanowska et al., 2020). Their biology, prey capture techniques, silk production, web construction, niche selection etc. varied highly among the families. The order Araneae ranks sixth (51,090 species in 4,314 genera belonging to 132 families, World Spider Catalog, 2023) after the five largest insect orders (Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera) in terms of species diversity. Despite having very rich biodiversity and a tropical climate with biodiversity hotspots, only 2,344 species described under 596 genera comprising 65 families are recorded in India among which several species seem to be misidentified (Singh & Singh, 2021a). Caleb & Sankaran (2023) listed only 1,940 species belonging to 492 genera in 61 families in India.