MASS-LENGTH RELATIONSHIPS OF EPIGEAL ARTHROPOD PREDATORS IN ARABLE LAND (ARANEAE, CHILOPODA, COLEOPTERA)

General relationships of dry mass vs, length are derived for money spi ders (Liny phiidae, 17 species), wolf spiders (Lycosidae, 6 species), centipedes (Henicopidae, 1 species), ground beetles (Carabidae, 25 spe cies), rove beetles (Staphylinidae, 20 species) and beetle larvae (Col eoptera, 3 families). The animals were caught in agricultural land, th us covering the relevant epigeal and predacious arthropods of this hab itat type. The results show that the developed body length equations a re effective for a biomass approximation of these predators, except fo r beetle larvae and Staphylinidae. For the latter, we recommend the us e of a dry mass vs. pronotum length regression, while for beetle larva e a dry mass vs. head length regression did not give better results. A s our study focuses on the habitat-specific species composition of ara ble land, our equations enable a more accurate biomass estimate of the investigated arthropods compared to former more general regressions e ncompassing a wider range of taxa from different habitats. Hence, our biomass calculations are of great value for future studies in populati on and community ecology in agroecosystems.