| Research Abstract |
1) The family Liphistiidae composed of primitive trap door spiders living in the preserved forests in Japan and East Asian countries is regarded as one of the most important groups in the study of spiders. Research trips were conducted in forests of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, and a good collection of the spiders as well as their ecological data were obtained in those fields.
2) Obtained specimens were morphologically and taxonomically studied, and compared with specimens of species of the family collected from Asian countries as Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, which were deposited in the collection of the National Science Museum Tokyo and some European museums.
3) Results of the study were orally presented at congresses of the Arachnological Society of Japan and the International Society of Arachnology and discussed with European and American arachnologists. Papers were published in the scientific journals of international societies (see following references).
4) The subfamily Heptathelinae distributed from Japan, China and Vietnam were divided into five groups, Ryuthela, Heptathela, Abcathela, Songthela and Vinathela, on the basis of systematic study of known species and two new species found in Vietnam, and their relationships were discussed (Ono, 1999, Journal of Arachnology).
5) Sixteen species of two heptatheline genera of the family Liphistiidae were recognized in Japan through field investigations in the Ryukyu Islands and Kyushu. Their zoogeographic and biological characteristics as well as geological history were discussed and presented at the congress of German and International Meeting of Arachnology at Salzburg, 2001.
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