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Hannah M Wood
Graduate student
University of California Berkeley
Environmental Science Policy and Management
Berkeley, CA USA
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| Archaeid spiders and their relatives (Araneae, Archaeidae): fossil placement, biogeography and evolution of the carapace morphology |
| Author(s) |
Hannah M Wood, Rosemary G Gillespie, Charles Griswold |
| Info |
Poster category:
Systematics |
| Abstract |
Molecular and morphological phylogenetic analyses are performed for living and extinct archaeids and for outgroup taxa representing 20 different spider families sampling throughout the Araneomorphae. Fossil archaeids are examined using X-ray Computed Tomography in order to understand phylogenetic placement of extinct lineages. Additionally, a molecular phylogenetic analysis of living archaeids is performed to elucidate relationships among extant species from Australia, Madagascar and South Africa. Biogeographic findings within different continents as well as between continents are discussed. The limits of the superfamily Palpimanoidea is examined. Furthermore, evolution of the carapace shape is examined from a phylogenetic context. |
| Evolution of a complex, novel structure, the trap-jaw mechanism, in spiders (Mecysmaucheniidae, Araneae) |
| Author(s) |
Hannah M Wood, Rosemary G Gillespie, Charles Griswold, Damian O Elias |
| Info |
Talk category:
Systematics |
| Abstract |
Trap jaw mechanisms have been described for the ant genus Odontomachus but is virtually unknown in one of the largest arthropod classes, the arachnids. The trap jaw mechanism has evolved twice independently in spiders, once in the family Pararchaeidae and once in the family Mecysmaucheniidae. The underlying structural mechanism for employing a trap jaw is unique in both families, with Mecysmaucheniids achieving the fastest known movements in arachnids. Within the mecysmaucheniids there is variation in both carapace and jaw shape and in the speeds of the jaws closing. Phylogenetic analyses of molecular data results in a mecysmaucheniid phylogeny that can be used to examine the evolution of this trait among lineages from New Zealand and Chile as well as to examine how this trait relates to distribution patterns. The biomechanical properties of this complex trait are examined among different lineages. |
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