Dinagat Islands hold most of the mineral deposits in the Philippines and have been among the largest mining contributors in the country since 1939. Aside from a massive mining industry, logging is also intensive in this group of islands potentially imperiling its remaining biodiversity. This study primarily aims to determine the species composition of terrestrial vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals) in two study areas categorized as modified habitats (mining area and logging area) in the Dinagat Islands. These wildlife species are important bio-indicators as they show sensitivity of the species to anthropogenic disturbances. Suitable field survey methods were conducted for the taxa established and a quantitative analysis was performed to determine the diversity and similarity of the species between the study areas. A total of 65 species were identified in the two study areas: 33 species were exclusively identified in the mining area, 49 species were exclusively identified in the logging area, and 17 species were found in both study areas. It should be noted that among the 65 species, 41 species are either endemic to Mindanao and/or the Philippines, and two species were endemic to Dinagat Islands. This study also recorded the newly described coral snake endemic to the island, Calliophis salitan Brown, Smart, Leviton and Smith. This study indicates that although Dinagat Islands is modified by anthropogenic activities, the terrestrial vertebrate species are thriving. Intensive survey in other modified habitats in Dinagat Islands is the next-step forward to take into account existing wildlife to improve conservation decisions, planning and management on the islands.

A detailed investigation of the spider diversity in Salem district, Tamil Nadu was carried out across different habitats for a period of five years. A total of 184 spider species belonging to 97 genera in 29 families were recorded, which represented nearly 10% of Indian and 65% of Tamil Nadu spider diversity. Among them 25 spider species are endemic to India. From the 29 families, the 3 most abundant families based on number of specimens sampled were Lycosidae (21%), Araneidae (18%), and Eresidae (17%), constituting 56% of the spider species. Simpson diversity indices ranged between 0.88 to 0.30 for all the studied habitats. The species richness was highest in bamboo fields (2.78), and the lowest was observed in grasslands (0.76). The highest abundance of spider species was observed in the sugarcane fields (0.83), followed by the grasslands (0.57) and paddy fields (0.53). Further, these spiders were categorized into nine types based on their foraging guilds. Among them, the highest species richness was observed in foliage runners. A maximum of nine spider guilds were observed in the shrub ecosystem. Natural ecosystems such as shrublands, treescapes, and grasslands had higher spider diversity than altered agricultural and domestic ecosystems. This is the first report on spider diversity in Salem District, Tamil Nadu revealing the varying spider diversity along with their guild types across different habitats.