The present study preliminarily investigates the diversity and composition of arbustive spider assemblages occurring in an early stage (arbustive), an intermediate stage (early secondgrowth), and a mature stage area (Atlantic Forest fragment) in Torres municipality, Rio Grande do Sul. Spiders and other arthropods (potential prey) were caught during the day with beating trays inside ten 3 m2 plots randomly placed inside each area, during two field trips in 2008. An individual-based rarefaction (with confidence intervals) was utilized to access differences in spider richness between areas, spider assemblage composition variation among the three succession areas was accessed by a MANOVA via randomization test, and the correlation between arbustive spider composition and the composition of potential preys was analyzed by a Mantel test. There were no significant differences in arbustive spider abundances between areas. Mature stage area presented higher arbustive spider richness compared to early stage area and intermediate stage area. The three habitats showed different compositions of arbustive spider assemblages, and the composition of arbustive spiders was not correlated with the composition of the potential preys. Higher richness of arbustive spiders in the mature area is probably due to a more diverse plant community. Compositions found in the three habitats indicate that many mature-forest species could not be capable of using matrix habitats. It seems that the mature patch is surrounded mainly by an inhospitable matrix, with little overlap in spider species composition between the habitats showing more similar vegetation composition (mature and intermediate). Our findings outpoint to a habitat-selective spider assemblage in this Atlantic Forest fragment highlighting the importance of protecting Atlantic forest fragments to conserve arbustive spider assemblages. Moreover, intermediate stage areas contiguous to forest fragments could be important to some forest dwelling species and also needs attention.