Points of View Exploring the boundaries of environmental stress and fluctuating asymmetry: is Eumantispa (Neuroptera: Mantispidae) exceptional?

Eumantispa spp. usually show markedly asymmetrical wing venation, and this character is used in defining the genus. This is illustrated and discussed in relation to fluctuating asymmetry, which is used as a measure of environmental stress. © Rapid Science Ltd. 1998     

Untangling the Web: Spiders and the Challenges of Invertebrate Conservation

Selection of informative focal groups is an important avenue to increasing the applications of invertebrates in conservation assessments and inventory studies, and to help overcome the challenges of high diversity, all-taxon surveys and taxonomic inadequacy. Spiders are a possible focal group of wide relevance in terrestrial ecosystems, but considerable further work is needed to clarify their broad values as indicators, the relevance of higher taxon surrogacy, the taxonomy of selected families and genera, and to develop standard sampling protocols. The current values of spiders in conservation asessment, and the prospects of enhancing their value as a focal group are enumerated and discussed.