Meeting Abstract
P2.206 Saturday, Jan. 5 Phylogenetic investigation and species delimitation of South African araneoid spider genus Cyatholipus, Simon 1984 GARCIA, E.L.*; GRISWOLD, C.E.; CARMICHAEL, A; San Diego State University, Summer Systematics Institute; California Academy of Sciences, Summer Systematics Institute; California Academy of Sciences erika_garcia234@hotmail.com
The forest biota of Africa is a biological diversity hotspot reflecting a heterogeneous landscape, suggesting centers of endemism and strong selective gradients in species richness. The existence of a disjunct montane region has been described as ‘archipelago-like’, which has led to high endemic diversity across many organisms including the araneoid spider family Cyatholipidae. The afrotropical cyatholipid fauna compromises fifteen genera. Here we focus exclusively on the South African genus Cyatholipus which encompasses six described species. Ranging from 1-2mm in body size, Cyatholipus are generally rare, but with recent efforts by the South African National Survey of Arachnida (SANSA), the number and quality of Cyatholipus collections has dramatically improved—this includes the first specimens preserved for molecular phylogenetic analysis. Integrating taxonomic information and phylogenetic methods, this project aims to describe, resolve, and understand interspecific relationships within Cyatholipus. To provide a detailed visualization of morphological characteristics, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), digital imaging, and female genitalia digestion methods were implemented. Using Teemenaarus as the outgroup hypothesis, molecular analyses of three molecular markers (H3, CO1, 28S) through Bayesian, Maximum Likelihood, and Parsimony were used to enable further resolution of the species limits within Cyatholipus. The congruence of the morphologic and phylogenetic data has suggested the synonymy of three species and one potential new species, reducing the number of valid species to four. *****We acknowledge generous support from the NSF REU program*****
