Abstract: The community structure of predatory arthropods in a weed habitat and a neighboring paddy field from a double cropping paddy in Dasha Town, Guangdong Province was investigated with the suction sampler in 1998 In total, 73 predator species, including 55 species of spiders and 18 species of insects, were collected in the weed habitat. On March 21, when the field had been ploughed for planting early rice, 33 species of predatory arthropods were collected with the density of 130 predators /m² in the weed habitat. On April 4, one week later the seedlings were transplanted, 29 species of predatory arthropods with the density of 92 predators /m² and 12 species with the density of 16.2 predators /m² were collected in the weed habitat and the rice field, respectively. On May 13, early rice coming to mature, only 19 species of predatory arthropods with the density of 28 predators /m² were collected in the weed habitat while 27 species with the density of 53.2 predators /m² were collected in the rice field. The similarity coefficients of the predatory arthropod communities in the weed habitat and the rice field were over 0.5, indicating many common species of predatory arthropods in the two habitats. These results suggest the community of predatory arthropods in weed habitat might be one of the main species pools for reestablishment of the community of in rice field.

Key words: double cropping paddy area, weed habitat, predatory a rthropod, community reestablishment, species pool