History
The first notes on spiders in Bohemia originated from the end of the 18th century (PREYSSLER 1791; PREYSSLER et al. 1793). More extensive species lists were published in the second half of the 19th century (PRACH 1866; BÁRTA 1869; NOSEK 1895). Systematic research on the arachnofauna of the territory of the present Czech Republic started in the 1930s.
Cooperation between two important Czech arachnologists, F. Miller (1902–1983) (BUCHAR 1997a) and J. Kratochvíl (1909–1992) (BUCHAR 1989a, 1990), began during the 1930s. Kratochvíl focused on research on the spiders in Balkan caves, and Miller on taxonomic research on Czechoslovak arachnofauna. J. Baum (1900–1944) (BREINDL 1945; BUCHAR 1970c) and V. Šilhavý (1913–1984) (MILLER 1974c; BUCHAR 1985a) published several arachnological papers during the same period. World War II was responsible for the end of Baum’s activity; he died in a concentration camp in Warszaw. Šilhavý continued to be interested in harvestmen and published the monography Sekáči [Harvestmen]. E. Bartoš (1902–1966) operated in Slovakia; he held a Chair of Zoology of Charles University at the time when the arachnological centre was formed there.
F. Miller became the main arachnological researcher in Czechoslovakia. Thanks to his artistic ability, he produced a comprehensive collection of drawings of all our spider species. The study of spiders of serpentine rock steppe near Mohelno represented his first extensive work, richly supported by drawings (MILLER 1947). A series of revisions of problematic spider genera followed (MILLER 1958b, 1963, 1967; MILLER & BUCHAR 1977; MILLER & SVATOŇ 1978). Professor Miller, working after the second world war at the Agriculture University in Brno, provided willing assistance to beginners in arachnology.
The year 1971 was important in the development of Czechoslovak arachnology. The fifth International Congress of Arachnology was organised in Brno from 30 August to 4 September 1971, in honour of Prof. F. Miller (BUCHAR 1971a, 1973). The fourth volume of the Key to the Fauna of Czechoslovakia was published in the same year; it contained the key to pseudoscorpions by P. Verner, the key to harvestmen by V. Šilhavý, and Miller’s crucial work, the key to the spiders of Czechoslovakia (MILLER 1971).
The arachnological centre at the Faculty of Sciences, Charles University, Prague, where the leading worker is J. Buchar, began to be important in the 1970s (BUCHAR 1982a). Buchar critically evaluated all data on the occurrence of spiders in the territory of Bohemia (BUCHAR 1961). In 1958–1970, he performed a faunistic-ecological investigation of spiders at sixteen model localities, which represented the basic types of habitats in Bohemia. In his thesis (BUCHAR 1972), Buchar evaluated the arachnofauna of Bohemia and elaborated a classification of the species’ abundance, thermopreference (BUCHAR 1975a) and dependence on the degree of deterioration of the habitat (BUCHAR 1983b); all aimed at the use of faunistic data for the monitoring of environmental changes.
Miller’s book in Czech provided students with a new, reliable identification key to spiders. J. Buchar based the next development of arachnological research on this fact. He acquired new students and started to organize on the one hand regular arachnological excursions, focusing on research in less explored regions, and on the other hand regular arachnological seminars.
An arachnological excursion to the surroundings of Turčianské Teplice in Slovakia was organised in 1974. This excursion became a constituent assembly of the Arachnological Section of the Slovak Entomological Society. J. Svatoň became its first president, and F. Miller was president from 1978. The founding of the Arachnological Section was very important for stimulating the study of spiders in Slovakia and encouraging cooperation between Slovak and Czech arachnologists (BUCHAR 1987b, 1988a). J. Buchar became president of the Arachnological Section in 1983. In 1993, Czechoslovakia was divided into two independent states, the Czech and Slovak Republics. Consequently, the independent Czech Entomological Society was established, and under its auspices, the Arachnological Section was established under the leadership of Prof. Buchar. The Arachnological Section of the Slovak Entomological Society continues in its work under the leadership of Mgr. J. Svatoň.
J. Buchar was involved in the publication of the Czechoslovak grid map by the Zoological Society (BUCHAR 1982b, c) and focused the work of the arachnological centre on this method of evaluating species distribution. He selected the family Lycosidae as a model group and provided his colleagues with a methodological guide (An internal aid for collaborators on the project ‘Grid mapping of the family Lycosidae’). The final results of this work were presented in another thesis (BUCHAR 1989b) and in several publications (BUCHAR 1993a, 1995a, 1999b). The original concepts of the classification of thermopreference, abundance and relictness of occurrence were completed and these classifications were used for bioindication and comparative zoogeography (BUCHAR 1994). J. Buchar has also worked taxonomically, and published a series of papers with Doz. K. Thaler. Under the leadership of Prof. Buchar, a checklist of spiders of the Czech Republic was prepared (BUCHAR et al. 1995) and work on the catalogue of spiders of the Czech Republic was started.
About forty arachnological excursions have been organised between 1972 and the end of the millennium; their results have contributed importantly to our knowledge of the arachnofauna of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Eightytwo arachnological seminars have been organised in the same time span. The Czechoslovak-Polish Arachnological Symposium was organised in Ostrava under the auspices of the Arachnological Section in 1986 (BUCHAR 1987a; MAJKUS 1988e), and in 1994, the 15th European Colloquium of Arachnology was organised in České Budějovice.
Nearly all of the Czech arachnologists were pupils of Prof. Buchar (RŮŽIČKA 1997a), or their professional interests were developed under his leadership. We can consider the group of arachnologists at the end of the millennium as Buchar’s arachnological school.
The Catalogue of Spiders of the Czech Republic was published in 2002 (BUCHAR & RŮŽIČKA 2002).
The Czech Arachnological Society was established in 2008 under the leadership of V. Růžička. The society has 50 members.