Meeting Abstract
Pycnogonids, or sea spiders, are obligate marine arthropods distributed across all oceans. Geographic and subsequently biological isolation has occurred in the Southern Ocean since the creation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) approximately 41 million years ago resulting in many taxa that are endemic to the region. Sea spiders in Antarctic waters are exceedingly diverse (20% of all species are present) and many are only found in the Southern Ocean (64% of all Antarctic sea spiders are endemic). The use of molecular tools has provided a greater understanding of sea spider biodiversity, particularly for those groups thought to have circumpolar distributions. This study employs mitochondrial and nuclear markers to investigate diversity and phylogeographic relationships within the Ammotheidae, a common sea spider family in the Southern Ocean. Sampling throughout the Western Antarctic Peninsula and seas (Bellingshausen, Amundsen, and Ross Seas) provides new insight for both the biodiversity and potential cryptic species within the family and also for population connectivity across large distances around the continent.
