A molecular phylogeny of the Australian huntsman spiders (Sparassidae, Deleninae): Implications for taxonomy and social behaviour

[Display omitted] •First molecular phylogeny in the huntsman spiders, Sparassidae.•Monophyly of an old endemic Australian radiation of Deleninae huntsman spiders.•First description of group-living in two delenine species.•Sociality has evolved one or more times in a single delenine genus, Delena.•Se...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 2013-12, Vol.69 (3), p.895-905
Main Authors: Agnarsson, Ingi, Rayor, Linda S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
adults
Animals
Araneae
Australia
Australian radiation
Bark
Bayes Theorem
Biological Evolution
Cell Nucleus - genetics
Cladding
dead wood
Delena
demographic statistics
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
habitats
Isopeda
Likelihood Functions
loci
Mathematical models
mitochondrial DNA
monophyly
Origins
Phylogeny
progeny
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Social Behavior
Social spider
Sparassid phylogeny
Sparassidae
Spider evolution
Spiders
Spiders - classification
Spiders - genetics
Taxonomy
Trees
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:[Display omitted] •First molecular phylogeny in the huntsman spiders, Sparassidae.•Monophyly of an old endemic Australian radiation of Deleninae huntsman spiders.•First description of group-living in two delenine species.•Sociality has evolved one or more times in a single delenine genus, Delena.•Several inconsistencies between molecular phylogeny and taxonomy. Huntsman spiders (Sparassidae) are a diverse group with a worldwide distribution, yet are poorly known both taxonomically and phylogenetically. They are particularly diverse in Australia where an endemic lineage, Deleninae, has diversified to form nearly 100 species. One unusual species, Delena cancerides, has been believed to be the sole group-living sparassid. Unlike all of the other subsocial and social spiders which are capture-web based or live in silken tunnels, D. cancerides are non-web building spiders that live in large matrilineal colonies of a single adult female and her offspring from multiple clutches of under the bark of dead trees. Here we report the discovery of two additional prolonged subsocial sparassid species, currently in Eodelena but here formally proposed as a synonomy of Delena (new synonoymy), Delena (Eodelena) lapidicola and D. (E.) melanochelis. We briefly describe their social demographics, behavior, and habitat use. In order to understand the evolutionary relationships among these species, and thus origin of sociality and other traits in this group, we also offer the first molecular phylogeny of Deleninae and relatives. We employ model based phylogenetic analyses on two mtDNA and three nuDNA loci using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods, including both ‘classical’ concatenation approach as well as coalescent-based analysis of species trees from gene trees. Our results support the hypothesis that the delenine huntsman spiders are a monophyletic Australian radiation, approximately 23million year old, and indicate that the current ten genera should be merged to six genera in four clades. Our findings are inconsistent with some relatively recent changes in the taxonomy of Deleninae. The three known group-living delenine species are related and likely represent a single origin of sociality with a single reversal to solitary life-styles. Our results provide strong support for the classical Isopeda, but not for the recent splitting of that taxon into Isopeda, Isopedella, and Holconia. Another moderately supported clade within Deleninae unites three genera (Pediana, Berega
ISSN:1055-7903
1095-9513
DOI:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.06.015