Assessment Rationale:

The Porto Santo Wolf Spider (Hogna schmitzi) is known across the entire island of Porto Santo and its small islets (Madeira, Portugal). This species has a restricted geographic range with a maximum estimate of extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO) of 68 km². However, Hogna schmitzi is assessed as Least Concern (LC), since the species seems to be able to live on several habitat types, even close to human settlements and the population is therefore assumed to be stable. Additionally there are no known threats to the species. A monitoring of population trends should be conducted to confirm species status.

Geographic Range:

Hogna schmitzi is known across the entire island of Porto Santo and its small islets (Portugal). Habitats include areas close to human settlements but exclude densely forested areas. Multiple collection sites are recorded for the species (Blackwall 1857, Johnson 1863, Schmitz 1895, Kulczyński 1899, Cockerell 1924, Denis 1962, Schmidt 1990, Wunderlich 1992). It was possible to perform species distribution modeling to predict its potential range with confidence limits (Cardoso et al. 2017). The extent of occurence (EOO) and the area of occupancy (AOO) are estimated to be between 32-68 km².

Population:

No population size estimates exist, but the population is assumed to be stable.

Habitat and Ecology

The Porto Santo Wolf Spider seems to be able to live on several habitat types, even close to human settlements. It only avoids densely forested areas. The species is an active ground hunter feeding mainly on medium/large size arthropods.

 

Major Threat(s):

There are no known threats to the species.

Conservation Actions

No specific conservation measures are in place for this species, but a small part of the species range is inside the Porto Santo Network of Marine Protected Areas (which include islets). Monitoring of population trends should be conducted to confirm species status.