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The spider collection (Arachnida: Araneae) from Albania and Kosovo in the Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt am Main is reviewed. A total of 122 adult specimens were found belonging to 73 species. Records of 48 species for Albania and 28 species for Kosovo, 20 of them new to Kosovo, are presented. Furthermore there are seven new country records for Albania: Platnickina nigropunctata, Erigone remota, Tenuiphantes tenebricola, Pardosa agrestis, Callobius claustrarius and Zelotes femellus). Additionally, Pardosa cavannae is the first record for the Balkan Peninsula. So far 381 species are known for Albania. A total of 106 species is known from Kosovo now; a list of the 86 spider species formerly known to Kosovo is included.

Spiders from the Tirana district of Albania were investigated. Currently, 78 species from 24 families and a collection of 400 specimens from January to August 2010 were recorded for Tirana. A total of 32 new records for the Albanian fauna are included in the present paper. Agraecina lineata (Simon, 1878) is the first record for the Balkan Peninsula. Saitis graecus Kulczyński, 1905 was known before only from Greece and Bulgaria. Presently, 373 spider species are known for Albania.

The present study unites data from several excursions in typical Mediterranean lowland ecosystems in Albania during the years 2006 to 2009. Spiders from several different habitat types along the coast were analysed in six districts: Saranda, Fieri, Kavaja, Durrësi, Tirana and Lezha. In total 299 adult specimens were collected. They belong to 82 species, 60 genera and 22 families. Six species are new to the Albanian fauna: Aculepeira armida (Audouin, 1826), Zygiella x-notata (Clerck, 1757), Histopona torpida (C. L. Koch, 1837), Malthonica campestris (C. L. Koch, 1834), Pellenes tripunctatus (Walckenaer, 1802) and Pseudeuophrys erratica (Walckenaer, 1826). With respect to zoogeography, the spider fauna is mainly characterized by the presence of many Palaearctic species.

Geolycosa vultuosa (C. L. Koch, 1838) (Lycosidae) is a large, deeply burrowing spider, occurring from south-eastern Europe to Central Asia. This species is found in a mountain pasture on Dajti Mountain in the Tirana district. The structure of the burrow and burrowing ecology of G. vultuosa are discussed in comparison to those seen in other species of wolf spiders. Four burrows of Geolycosa vultuosa inhabited by subadult and adult females were observed in soil vegetated with low grass and a few other low plants at the end of September 2014. These burrows were cast with cement and excavated. The burrows consisted of vertical to subvertical, slightly curved, or nearly straight shafts. Compared to other burrows of wolf spiders, three burrows of G. vultuosa did not show any basal chamber, but a gradual widening from the middle to the base. One burrow showed a basal chamber with a basal protrusion thinner than the shaft. Burrow surfaces and entrances were unornamented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable studies of the univoltine, common field-cricket Gryllus campestris Linnaeus, 1758, known from sunny oligotrophic grasslands and heathlands of the western Palaearctic, were previously made, but none of them has shown the characteristics of its burrows. This paper presents a neoichnological study based on a group of G. campestris that lives in and around a pasture glade in Dajti Mountain, east of the Tirana District in Albania. It includes direct observations of the burrows in the field and their casts made by means of white Portland cement. Burrows of nymphs of G. campestris were observed to be tubular, sun-facing and have only one, funnel-like entrance, simple termination and no branches. This study is the first one showing morphological features of the burrows and the burrowing activity of the common field-cricket, being a contribution to ichnology of soils. Preservation of the burrows is possible by their filling, for instance by sand during flooding. The burrows do not fit to any existing ichnotaxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general review of spider burrows and history of their research in eighteenth to nineteenth centuries are provided on the basis of the literature, which is dispersed and almost forgotten by majority of ichnologists. Moreover, burrows of the wolf spider Trochosa hispanica Simon, 1870 from a mountain meadow in Albania are presented. They are composed of an almost straight through gently curved to slightly winding vertical shafts (8.2-17.2 mm in diameter) with a basal, oval chamber, which is 14.5-30.6 mm wide. Above the ground level, some of them show a low, agglutinated chimney a cone composed of soil granules. The burrows are 83-235 mm long. They are comparable with the trace fossil Macanopsis Macsotay, 1967. Other spider burrows can form a simple shaft, which may be ascribed to the ichnogenus Skolithos Haldeman, 1840, or a shaft with the side oblique branches, which is is similar to the ichnogenus Psilonichnus Fürsich, 1981. Many spider burrows show one or more chambers. Their outlet may be closed with a trapdoor or show a chimney sticking above the ground. They may show scratch traces running parallel to the burrow. The burrows are domiciles in which spiders spend a part of, or even the whole life. They protect spiders against harsh environmental conditions, foremost against too low or to high temperature, sheet floods, or predators. Moreover, they can be also a place for copulation, oviposition, parental care, placement of cocoons, or shedding the exuvia. Burrowing spider are more common in in warmer climatic zones, in open space, above the water ground level, and less common in flooded. So far, very few examples of fossil spider burrows are recognised, mostly in Cenozoic sediments, even if spiders are known since the Carboniferous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Records of 176 spiders, belonging to 19 species and 9 families are presented, based on spider material collected using pitfall traps in the rural, degraded and protected natural forest of a typical hilly ecosystem in the Vora hills, Tirana district, Albania. The most abundant of the families was Thomisidae with 101 individuals belonging to three species. Altogether we document four new species for the Albanian spider fauna, including one species respectively for the families of Nemesiidae, Dysderidae, Thomisidae and Salticidae. Data on the habitat preferences of the new-established species and their zoogeographical distribution are also presented. A rural habitat with Olea europaea is well represented with 109 individuals. Balkan endemics (21.1%) and Mediterranean species (31.6%) emphasize the local character of this fauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]