Abstract
The spider genus Atelidea Simon, 1895 previously included two described species, A. spinosa Simon, 1895 and A. globosa Yamaguchi, 1957. In this study we describe for the first time the female of A. spinosa, and provide illustrations and scanning electron microscope images of external and internal features. The phylogenetic placement of this genus was investigated by including A. spinosa in a recent phylogenetic analysis with 23 tetragnathids. Parsimony analyses under equal and implied weights were performed. Our results suggest that Atelidea belongs to Tetragnathidae and in particular nests within Leucauginae, this last node is well supported and expected to endure future analysis; however, the relationships of Atelidea to other leucaugine species and its validity as a genus need to be assessed in future studies with a larger sample of leucaugine taxa. The second species described in the genus, A. globosa, is only known from its now lost type specimen from Japan and it is proposed as a nomen dubium leaving Atelidea monotypic.References
Álvarez-Padilla, F. (2007) Systematics of the spider genus Metabus O. P.-Cambridge, 1899 (Araneoidea: Tetragnathidae) with additions to the tetragnathid fauna of Chile and comments on the phylogeny of Tetragnathidae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 151, 285–335.
Álvarez-Padilla, F. & Hormiga, G. (2008) A protocol for digesting internal soft tissues and mounting spiders for scanning electron microscopy. Journal of Arachnology, 35, 538–542.
Álvarez-Padilla, F., Dimitrov, D., Giribet, G. & Hormiga, G. (2009) Phylogenetic relationships of the spider family Tetragnathidae (Araneae, Araneoidea) based on morphological and DNA sequence data. Cladistics, 25, 109–146.
Blackledge, T., Scharff, N., Coddington, J., Szuts, T., Wenzel, J., Hayashi, C. & Agnarsson, I. (2009) Reconstructing web evolution and spider diversification in the molecular era. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 5229–5234.
Coddington, J.A. (1983) A temporary slide-mount allowing precise manipulation of small structures. Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins in Hamburg, (NF) 26, 291–292.
Coddington J.A. (1990) Ontogeny and homology in the male palpus of orb-weaving spiders and their relatives, with comments on phylogeny (Araneoclada: Araneoidea, Deinopoidea). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 496, 1–52.
Coddington, J.A. & Scharff, N. (1995) Problems with zero-length branches. Cladistics, 10, 415–423.
Dimitrov, D. & Hormiga, G. (2009) Revision and cladistic analysis of the orbweaving spider genus Cyrtognatha Keyserling, 1881 (Araneae, Tetragnathidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 317, 1–140.
Dimitrov, D. & Hormiga G. (2010) Mr.Darwin’s mysterious spider: On the type species of the genus Leucauge White, 1841 (Tetragnathidae, Araneae). Zootaxa, 2396, 19–36.
Dimitrov, D. & Hormiga, G. (in press) Pinkfloydia, an extraordinary new genus of tetragnathid spiders from Western Australia with an expanded phylogenetic hypothesis for the generic relationships of Tetragnathidae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Dimitrov, D., Álvarez-Padilla, F. & Hormiga, G. (2007) The female genitalic morphology of the orb weaving spider genus Agriognatha (Araneae, Tetragnathidae). Journal of Morphology, 268, 758–770.
Eberhard, W.G. (1982) Behavioral characters for the higher classification of orb-weaving spiders. Evolution, 36, 1067–95.
Eberhard, W.G. (1987) Effects of gravity on temporary spiral construction by Leucauge mariana (Araneae: Araneidae). Journal of Ethology, 5, 29–36.
Eberhard, W.G. (1988) Behavioral flexibility in orb web construction: Effects of supplies in different silk glands and spider size and weight. Journal of Arachnology, 16, 295–302.
Eberhard, W.G. (2001) Under the influence: Webs and building behavior of Plesiometa argyra (Araneae, Tetragnathidae) when parasitized by Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae). Journal of Arachnology, 29, 354–366
Farris, J.V., Albert, M., Källersjö, D., Lipscomb, D. & Kluge, A. (1996) Parsimony jackknifing outperforms neighbor joining. Cladistics, 12, 99–124.
Fitch, W.M. (1971) Towards defining the course of evolution: minimal change for a specific tree topology. Systematic Zoology, 20, 406–416.
Grandjean, F. (1949) Observation et conservation des très petits arthropodes. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire naturelle 21, 363–370.
Goloboff, P.A. (1993) Estimating character weights during tree search. Cladistics, 9, 83–91.
Goloboff, P.A, Farris, J.S, Källersjö, M., Oxelmann, B., Ramirez, M. & Szumik, C. (2003) Improvements to resampling measures of group support. Cladistics, 19, 324–332.
Goloboff, P.A., Farris, J.S. & Nixon, K. (2004) T. N. T. Tree analysis using new technology. Program and documentation available from the authors, and at www.zmuc.dk/public/phylogeny. (August 2010).
Griswold, C.E., Coddington, J.A., Hormiga, G. & Scharff, N. (1998) Phylogeny of the orb-web building spiders (Araneae, Orbiculariae: Deinopoidea, Araneoidea). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 123, 1–99.
Holm, A. (1979) A taxonomic study of European and East African species of the genera Pelecopsis and Trichopterna (Araneae, Linyphiidae), with descriptions of a new genus and two new species of Pelecopsis from Kenya. Zoologica Scripta, 8, 255–278.
Hormiga, G., Eberhard, W.G. & Coddington, J.A. (1995) Web-construction behaviour in Australian Phonognatha and the phylogeny of nephiline and tetragnathid spiders (Araneae: Tetragnathidae). Australian Journal of Zoology, 43, 313–364.
Kuntner, M. (2005) A revision of Herennia (Araneae: Nephilidae: Nephilinae) the Australasian 'coin spiders'. Invertebrate Systematics, 19, 391–436.
Kuntner, M. (2006) Phylogenetic systematics of the Gondwanan nephilid spider lineage Clitaetrinae (Araneae, Nephilidae). Zoologica Scripta, 35, 19–62.
Kuntner, M., Coddington, J.A. & Hormiga, G. (2008) Phylogeny of extant nephilid orb-weaving spiders (Araneae, Nephilidae): testing morphological and ethological homologies. Cladistics, 24, 147–217.
Levi, H.W. (1980) The orb-weaver genus Mecynogea, the subfamily Metinae and the genera Pachygnatha, Glenognatha and Azilia of the subfamily Tetragnathinae north of Mexico (Araneae: Araneidae). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 149, 1–75.
Levi, H.W. (1981) The American orb-weaver genera Dolichognatha and Tetragnatha north of Mexico (Araneae: Araneidae, Tetragnathinae). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 149, 271–318.
Levi, H.W. (1986) The Neotropical orb-weaver genera Chrysometa and Homalometa (Araneae: Tetragnathidae). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 151, 91–215.
Levi, H.W. (2008) On the tetragnathid genera Alcimosphenus, Leucauge, Mecynometa and Opas (Araneae, Tetragnathidae). Journal of Arachnology, 36, 167–170.
Levi, H.W. & Eickstedt, V.R.D. (1989) The Nephilinae spiders of the Neotropics (Araneae: Tetragnathidae). Memorias del Instituto Butantan (Sao Paulo), 51, 43–56 .
Nixon, K.C. (2002) WinClada. Published by the Author, Ithaca, New York.
Platnick, N.I. (1999) Dimensions of Biodiversity: Targeting megadiverse groups. In: Cracraft J, Grifo FT, eds. The living planet crisis, Biodiversity scnece and policy. Columbia University Press, New York .
Platnick, N.I. (2010) The world spider catalog, version 11.0. American Museum of Natural History. Available from http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/index.html.
Rix, M.G., Harvey, M.S. & Roberts, J.D. (2008) Molecular phylogenetics of the spider family Micropholcommatidae (Arachnida: Araneae) using nuclear rRNA genes (18S and 28S). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 46, 1031–1048.
Simon, E. (1894) Histoire naturelle des Araignées. Roret, Paris, 489–760 pp.
Simon, E. (1895) Etudes arachnologiques. 26e Mémoire. XLI. Descriptions d'espèces et de genres nouveaux de l'ordre des Araneae. Annales de la Société entomologique de France. Paris, 64, 131–160.
Yaginuma, T. (1960) Spiders of Japan in colour. Hoikusha, Osaka, 186 pp.
Yamaguchi, T. (1957) [No English title]. Science Reports of the Faculty of Arts and Education, Nagasaki University, 6, 60–61.