A checklist of spiders of Nepal (Arachnida; Araneae)

Spiders (order Araneae) have a worldwide distribution. As of June 17, 2022, the World spider catalog, Version 23.0, enlists 50,188 species of spiders from throughout the world. Except for the open sea and air, spiders live in every ecological environment. They prefer densely vegetated environments and are the world's seventh most diverse group of creatures in terms of species diversity. The checklist of spiders of south Asia mentions 222 spider species from Nepal, grouped into 23 families. However, the official database of the Nepalese government only lists 175 species of Nepalese spiders. This checklist is a vital update to the diversity of the spider fauna of Nepal. The goal is to compile a thorough list of all the spiders found in Nepal. We have enlisted 386 different spider species from Nepal, belonging to 135 different genera and 34 different families, after reviewing previous scientific publications, computer databases of the Nepalese government, and the World spider catalog, Version 23.0. It adds a total of 211 new spiders to Nepal's biodiversity database. Linyphiidae and Salticidae spiders dominate accounting for 27.46 percent and 17.36 percent of total species, respectively, on the checklist. Corrections to previous misidentifications are also included in this checklist, as well as taxonomy revisions. Synonymous species are sorted out to avoid recurrence. The trends in Nepalese spider discovery and dispersion have also been studied.

Automated summary

Spiders are globally distributed creatures. Nepal is a diverse habitat for spiders, and through reviewing previous studies and databases, a checklist of 386 spider species in Nepal has been compiled.