Phylogenetic placement of the stone-nest orb-weaving spider Nemoscolus Simon, 1895 (Araneae : Araneidae) and the description of the first species from Australia
Robert J. Kallal
A B C and Gustavo Hormiga A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, 2029 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
B Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, 10th and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20560, USA.
C Corresponding author. Email: kallalr@si.edu
Invertebrate Systematics 34(8) 893-905 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS20035
Submitted: 28 April 2020 Accepted: 28 June 2020 Published: 16 November 2020
Abstract
The spider genus Nemoscolus Simon, 1895 (Araneidae) has been neglected taxonomically despite the unique retreat that several species construct in their horizontal orb-webs, composed of pebbles and other detritus. The distribution of Nemoscolus is poorly known and the genus includes species from Africa and Europe. Nemoscolus is placed in Simon’s Cycloseae species group along with Cyclosa Menge, 1866, Acusilas Simon, 1895, Arachnura Vinson, 1863, Witica O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1895, among others. Here we describe a new species from Queensland, Australia, N. sandersi, sp. nov., drastically expanding the distribution range of the genus. We use nucleotide sequence data to phylogenetically place Nemoscolus using model-based inference methods within Araneidae and to explore its affinities to Simon’s Cycloseae. The data support propinquity of Nemoscolus with Acusilas and Arachnura but not with Cyclosa. Our analyses suggest that Cycloseae is not a clade, with Cyclosa, Acusilas, Witica and Nemoscolus not sharing a recent common ancestor. This use of an integrated granular retreat represents at least the second independent evolution of such a structure within Araneidae. These results improve our understanding of both phylogeny and retreat evolution in araneid spiders.
Keywords: Araneoidea, Australia, orb web, systematics, taxonomy.
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