Morphological phylogeny of cobweb spiders and their relatives (Araneae, Araneoidea, Theridiidae)

By I. Agnarsson. 2004

279 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper offers the first cladistic analysis of a wide selection of theridiid genera based on morphological data. The analysis treats 53 theridiid taxa representing 32 genera (Achaearanea, Anelosimus, Ameridion, Argyrodes, Ariamnes, Carniella, Cerocida, Chrysso, Coleosoma, Dipoena, Emertonella, Enoplognatha, Episinus, Euryopis, Faiditus, Kochiura, Latrodectus, Neospintharus, Nesticodes, Pholcomma, Phoroncidia, Rhomphaea, Robertus, Selkirkiella, Spintharus, Steatoda, Stemmops, Theridion, Theridula, Thymoites, Thwaitesia, Tidarren) and eight outgroup taxa representing the families Nesticidae (Eidmanella and Nesticus), Synotaxidae (Synotaxus, two species), Pimoidae (Pimoa), Linyphiidae (Linyphia), Tetragnathidae (Tetragnatha) and Araneidae (Argiope). The parsimony analysis of 242 morphological and behavioural characters found a single, most parsimonious tree. The monophyly of theridiids and their sister relationship with nesticids is strongly supported. The recent resurrection of Ariamnes and Rhomphaea from Argyrodes made the latter paraphyletic. However, Ariamnes and Rhomphaea are characterized by an array of characters, and Argyrodes still contains dramatically distinct clades for which names are available: Faiditus (removed from synonymy − RS) and Neospintharus (RS). These revalidations provide a classification with greater information content and utility. These three genera, along with Ariamnes, Rhomphaea and Spheropistha, comprise the subfamily Argyrodinae. The monophyly and composition of the subfamilies Hadrotarsinae, Spintharinae, Pholcommatinae, Latrodectinae and Theridiinae are discussed. Theridion is paraphyletic and in need of revision. Anelosimus as currently circumscribed is paraphyletic, a problem resolved by revalidating Selkirkiella (RS) and Kochiura (RS). Numerous new combinations are established. The results suggest the monophyletic origin of both kleptoparasitism and araneophagy in the lineage leading to Argyrodinae, negating hypotheses that either arose from the other. Sociality evolved multiple times within the family, accounting for as much as one fourth of the origins of social behaviour among all spiders. No losses of sociality are implied. The hypothesis of maternal care as the pathway to sociality receives support. Evolution of theridiid webs is complex, with multiple modifications and loss of the basic theridiid cobweb. © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2004, 141, 447–626.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Genetics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7d16b3b05a47884f39a84a7afd31430008441468

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Citations in the corpus

Indian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae): Updated checklist 2005 (2005, background): “Genus Faiditus Keyserling, 1884 Comments: According to Platnick (2005), this genus was removed from the synonym of Argyrodes Simon, 1864 by Agnarsson (2004). 1. Faiditus xiphias Thorell, 1887 Synonyms: Argyrodes xiphias Thorell, 1887 Argyrodes carnicobarensis Tikader, 1977 Argyrodes levii Zhu & Song”
The Morphology And Phylogeny Of Dionychan Spiders (Araneae: Araneomorphae) (2014, background): “Other locking mechanisms have been described in Theridiidae (median apophysiscymbium; Agnarsson, 2004) and Nicodamidae (Griswold et al., 2005).”
The Form and Function of Spider Orb Webs: Evolution from Silk to Ecosystems (2011, background): “However, the flagelliform spigot is present in many other derived taxa, such as most cobweb spinning theridiids (Agnarsson, 2004), where it is likely used in sticky prey wrapping (e.g. Eberhard, 2010a).”
A monograph of Nephilengys, the pantropical ‘hermit spiders’ (Araneae, Nephilidae, Nephilinae) (2007, unknown): “…Royal Entomological Society, Systematic Entomology, 32, 95–135 but most derive from the literature (Eberhard, 1982; Coddington, 1986a, b, c, 1990; Hormiga et al., 1995; Scharff & Coddington, 1997; Griswold et al., 1998; Agnarsson, 2003, 2004, 2005; Agnarsson & Kuntner, 2005; Kuntner, 2005a, 2006).”
Phylogenetic systematics of the Gondwanan nephilid spider lineage Clitaetrinae (Araneae, Nephilidae) (2006, methodology): “…alternative in the Linnaean system, of course, is not to name new clades, and if they do merit discussion, give them informal names, a standard practice in recent araneological phylogenetic literature (Scharff & Coddington 1997; Griswold et al. 1998; Agnarsson 2004, 2005; Agnarsson & Kuntner 2005).”
Phylogeny of extant nephilid orb‐weaving spiders (Araneae, Nephilidae): testing morphological and ethological homologies (2008, methodology): “In Steatoda the condition is even more extreme with the theridiid cymbium twist (Agnarsson, 2004).”
The Evolution of Sociality in Spiders (2007, background): “Extended maternal care and delayed juvenile dispersal occur in many other comb‐footed spider (Theridiidae) genera (e.g., Theridion, Achaearanea; Agnarsson, 2004), in all Eresidae that have been studied to date (Dorceus, Eresus, Seothyra, Stegodyphus; D’Andrea, 1987; Henschel and Lubin, 1992; Kraus a”
Web forms and the phylogeny of theridiid spiders (Araneae: Theridiidae): Chaos from order (2008, methodology): “…(Coddington, 1986; Griswold et al., 1998) 6(1) star gumfoot webs Chrysso spiniventris (Benjamin & Zschokke, 2003); Achaearanea spp.; Theridion sp. (Agnarsson, 2004) 7(0) sticky lines in tangle Argyrodes antipodiana (Whitehouse, 1986); Theridion spp.; Achaearanea spp.; Chrysso spp.; Theridula.sp.…”