On the New World spiders previously misplaced in Leptopholcus: molecular and morphological analyses and descriptions of four new species (Araneae : Pholcidae)
Bernhard A. Huber A E , Leonardo S. Carvalho B C and Suresh P. Benjamin A D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Alexander Koenig Research Museum of Zoology, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany.
B Universidade Federal do Piauí, Campus Amílcar Ferreira Sobral – CAFS, BR 343, KM 3.5, Bairro Meladão, CEP 64800-000, Floriano, PI, Brazil.
C Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
D Institute of Fundamental Studies, Hantana Road, Kandy 20000, Sri Lanka.
E Corresponding author. Email: b.huber@zfmk.de
Invertebrate Systematics 28(4) 432-450 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS13050
Submitted: 15 October 2013 Accepted: 23 January 2014 Published: 12 September 2014
Abstract
The generic placement of New World pholcids assigned to the genus Leptopholcus Simon, 1893 has long been questioned and recent molecular data have shown that Caribbean (Hispaniolan) representatives are more closely related to the Old World genus Micropholcus Deeleman-Reinhold & Prinsen, 1987 than to ‘true’ African Leptopholcus (Dimitrov, Astrin and Huber 2013, Cladistics 29: 132–146). Here we provide new molecular (16S, 18S, 28S, COI, H3, WNT1) and morphological data about Caribbean (Cuban, Puerto Rican) and South American (Brazilian) representatives, supporting the sister-group relationship with Micropholcus and suggesting a monophyletic New World clade that in turn consists of a Caribbean and a South American clade. The ten New World species previously assigned to Leptopholcus are thus transferred to Micropholcus for which an emended diagnosis is provided: M. baoruco (Huber, 2006), comb. nov.; M. brazlandia (Huber, Pérez & Baptista, 2005), comb. nov.; M. dalei (Petrunkevitch, 1929), comb. nov.; M. delicatulus (Franganillo, 1930), comb. nov.; M. evaluna (Huber, Pérez & Baptista, 2005), comb. nov.; M. hispaniola (Huber, 2000), comb. nov.; M. jamaica (Huber, 2000), comb. nov.; M. kiskeya (Huber & Wunderlich, 2006), comb. nov.; M. pataxo (Huber, Pérez & Baptista, 2005), comb. nov.; M. toma (Huber, 2006), comb. nov. Four Brazilian species are newly described: M. piaui, sp. nov.; M. piracuruca, sp. nov.; M. crato, sp. nov.; M. ubajara, sp. nov. Natural history data are provided for M. piaui and M. ubajara.
Additional keywords: Brazil, Micropholcus, molecular phylogeny, taxonomy.
References
Álvares, E. S. S., Machado, E. O., Azevedo, C. S., and De-Maria, M. (2004). Composition of the spider assemblage in an urban forest reserve in southeastern Brazil and evaluation of two sampling method protocols of species richness estimates. Revista Ibérica de Aracnologia 10, 185–194.Avilés, L., McCormack, J., Cutter, A., and Bukowski, T. (2000). Precise, highly female-biased sex ratios in a social spider. Proceedings. Biological Sciences 267, 1445–1449.
| Precise, highly female-biased sex ratios in a social spider.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Brignoli, P. M. (1980). Sur le genre Leptopholcus Simon, 1893 (Araneae, Pholcidae). Revue de Zoologie Africaine 94, 649–655.
Brown, B. V. (1993). A further chemical alternative to critical-point-drying for preparing small (or large) flies. Fly Times 11, 10.
Bryant, E. B. (1948). The spiders of Hispaniola. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 100, 329–447; pl. 1–12.
Carvalho, L. S., Dias, S. C., Candiani, D. F., and Bonaldo, A. B. (2010). On the female of Metagonia taruma (Araneae: Pholcidae), ecology of the pholcid spiders in the Urucu River Basin, Amazonas, Brazil and new records from Brazilian Amazonia. Zoologia 27, 431–439.
| On the female of Metagonia taruma (Araneae: Pholcidae), ecology of the pholcid spiders in the Urucu River Basin, Amazonas, Brazil and new records from Brazilian Amazonia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Deeleman-Reinhold, C. L., and Prinsen, J. D. (1987). Micropholcus fauroti (Simon) n. comb., a pantropical, synanthropic spider (Araneae: Pholcidae). Entomologische Berichten (Amsterdam) 47, 73–77.
Dimitrov, D., Astrin, J. J., and Huber, B. A. (2013). Pholcid spider molecular systematics revisited, with new insights into the biogeography and the evolution of the group. Cladistics 29, 132–146.
| Pholcid spider molecular systematics revisited, with new insights into the biogeography and the evolution of the group.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Edgar, R. C. (2004). MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput. Nucleic Acids Research 32, 1792–1797.
| MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 1:CAS:528:DC%2BD2cXisF2ks7w%3D&md5=0f644003e0450eab42e285b06371fbb5CAS | 15034147PubMed |
Fitch, W. M. (1971). Towards defining the course of evolution: minimal change for a specific tree topology. Systematic Zoology 20, 406–416.
| Towards defining the course of evolution: minimal change for a specific tree topology.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Franganillo, P. B. (1930). Arácnidos de Cuba. Mas arácnidos nuevos de la Isla de Cuba. Memorias del Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Museo de Historia Natural 1, 47–97.
Franganillo, P. B. (1931). Excursiones aracnológicas, durante el mes de agosto de 1930. Revista ‘Belen’ 6, 285–288.
Franganillo, P. B. (1936). Arácnidos recogidos durante el verano de 1934. Revista ‘Belen’ 50, 75–82.
Gertsch, W. J. (1986). The spider genus Metagonia (Araneae: Pholcidae) in North America, Central America, and the West Indies. Texas Memorial Museum. Speleological Monographs 1, 39–62.
Goloboff, P. A. (1993). Estimating character weights during tree search. Cladistics 9, 83–91.
| Estimating character weights during tree search.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Goloboff, P. A., Farris, J. S., and Nixon, K. C. (2008). TNT, a free program for phylogenetic analysis. Cladistics 24, 774–786.
| TNT, a free program for phylogenetic analysis.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
González-Sponga, M. A. (2004). Arácnidos de Venezuela. Un nuevo género y nuevas especies de la familia Pholcidae (Araneae). Aula y Ambiente 8, 63–76.
Huber, B. A. (1996). On American ‘Micromerys’ and Metagonia (Araneae, Pholcidae), with notes on natural history and genital mechanics. Zoologica Scripta 25, 341–363.
| On American ‘Micromerys’ and Metagonia (Araneae, Pholcidae), with notes on natural history and genital mechanics.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Huber, B. A. (2000). New World pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae): a revision at generic level. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 254, 1–348.
| New World pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae): a revision at generic level.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Huber, B. A. (2001). The pholcids of Australia (Araneae; Pholcidae): taxonomy, biogeography, and relationships. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 260, 1–144.
| The pholcids of Australia (Araneae; Pholcidae): taxonomy, biogeography, and relationships.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Huber, B. A. (2009). Four new generic and 14 new specific synonymies in Pholcidae, and transfer of Pholcoides Roewer to Filistatidae (Araneae). Zootaxa 1970, 64–68; 1977, 68 (erratum).
Huber, B. A. (2011). Revision and cladistic analysis of Pholcus and closely related taxa (Araneae, Pholcidae). Bonner zoologische Monographien 58, 1–509.
Huber, B. A. (2013). Revision and cladistic analysis of the Guineo-Congolian spider genus Smeringopina Kraus (Araneae, Pholcidae). Zootaxa 3713, 1–160.
| Revision and cladistic analysis of the Guineo-Congolian spider genus Smeringopina Kraus (Araneae, Pholcidae).Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Huber, B. A., and Benjamin, S. (2005). The pholcid spiders from Sri Lanka: redescription of Pholcus ceylonicus and description of Wanniyala new genus (Araneae: Pholcidae). Journal of Natural History 39, 3305–3319.
| The pholcid spiders from Sri Lanka: redescription of Pholcus ceylonicus and description of Wanniyala new genus (Araneae: Pholcidae).Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Huber, B. A., and Eberhard, W. G. (1997). Courtship, copulation, and genital mechanics in Physocyclus globosus (Araneae, Pholcidae). Canadian Journal of Zoology 75, 905–918.
| Courtship, copulation, and genital mechanics in Physocyclus globosus (Araneae, Pholcidae).Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Huber, B. A., and Fleckenstein, N. (2008). Comb-hairs on the fourth tarsi in pholcid spiders (Araneae, Pholcidae). The Journal of Arachnology 36, 232–240.
| Comb-hairs on the fourth tarsi in pholcid spiders (Araneae, Pholcidae).Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Huber, B. A., and Pérez, G. A. (1998). Leptopholcus delicatulus (Araneae, Pholcidae) is a valid name. The Journal of Arachnology 26, 251–256.
Huber, B. A., and Schütte, A. (2009). Preliminary notes on leaf-dwelling Metagonia spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae) in the Esquinas Rainforest near La Gamba, Costa Rica: leaf preference, mimesis, and web structure. Contributions to Natural History (Bern) 12, 681–697.
Huber, B. A., and Wunderlich, J. (2006). Fossil and extant species of the genus Leptopholcus in the Dominican Republic, with the first case of egg-parasitism in pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae). Journal of Natural History 40, 2341–2360.
| Fossil and extant species of the genus Leptopholcus in the Dominican Republic, with the first case of egg-parasitism in pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae).Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Huber, B. A., Pérez, G. A., and Baptista, R. L. C. (2005). Leptopholcus (Araneae: Pholcidae) in continental America: rare relicts in low precipitation areas. Bonner zoologische Beiträge 53, 99–107.
Huber, B. A., Pérez, G. A., Astrin, J. J., Blume, C., and Baptista, R. (2013). Litoporus iguassuensis Mello-Leitão, 1918 (Araneae, Pholcidae): camouflaged retreat, sexual dimorphism, female color polymorphism, intra-specific genital variation, and description of the male. Zoologischer Anzeiger 252, 511–521.
| Litoporus iguassuensis Mello-Leitão, 1918 (Araneae, Pholcidae): camouflaged retreat, sexual dimorphism, female color polymorphism, intra-specific genital variation, and description of the male.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Machado, E. O., Brescovit, A. D., Candiani, D. F., and Huber, B. A. (2007). Three new species of Mesabolivar González-Sponga, 1998 (Araneae: Pholcidae) from leaf litter in urban environments in the city of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. Iheringia. Série Zoologia 97, 168–176.
Miller, M. A., Pfeiffer, W., and Schwartz, T. (2010). Creating the CIPRES Science Gateway for inference of large phylogenetic trees. In ‘Proceedings of the Gateway Computing Environments Workshop (GCE)’, 14 Nov. 2010, New Orleans, LA, pp. 1–8.
Oliveira, M. E. A., Martins, F. R., Castro, A. A. J. F., and Santos, J. R. (2007). Classes de cobertura vegetal do Parque Nacional de Sete Cidades (transição campo-floresta) utilizando imagens TM/Landsat, NE do Brasil. Annals of the XIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Sensoriamento Remoto, Florianópolis, Brasil. INPE. pp. 1775–1783.
Peretti, A., Eberhard, W. G., and Briceño, D. (2006). Copulatory dialogue: female spiders sing during copulation to influence male genitalic movements. Animal Behaviour 72, 413–421.
| Copulatory dialogue: female spiders sing during copulation to influence male genitalic movements.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Pérez, G. A., and Huber, B. A. (1999). Metagonia debrasi n. sp., the first species of the genus Metagonia Simon in Cuba (Pholcidae, Araneae). Revue Arachnologique 13, 69–72.
Petrunkevitch, A. (1929). The spiders of Porto Rico. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 30, 1–158.
Silva, M. S., and Ferreira, R. L. (2009). Caracterização ecológica de algumas cavernas do Parque Nacional de Ubajara (Ceará) com considerações sobre o turismo nestas cavidades. Revista de Biologia e Ciências da Terra 9, 59–71.
Stamatakis, A. (2006). RAxML-VI-HPC: maximum likelihood-based phylogenetic analyses with thousands of taxa and mixed models. Bioinformatics 22, 2688–2690.
| RAxML-VI-HPC: maximum likelihood-based phylogenetic analyses with thousands of taxa and mixed models.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 1:CAS:528:DC%2BD28XhtFKlsbfI&md5=b0df768ad6679df0c2d42f77d14048ddCAS | 16928733PubMed |
Stamatakis, A., Hoover, P., and Rougemont, J. (2008). A rapid bootstrap algorithm for the RAxML web servers. Systematic Biology 57, 758.
| A rapid bootstrap algorithm for the RAxML web servers.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 18853362PubMed |
Uhl, G. (1998). Mating behaviour in the cellar spider, Pholcus phalangioides, indicates sperm mixing. Animal Behaviour 56, 1155–1159.
| Mating behaviour in the cellar spider, Pholcus phalangioides, indicates sperm mixing.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 9819331PubMed |
