Species cohesion despite extreme inbreeding in a social spider

Abstract

Colonial social spiders experience extreme inbreeding and highly restricted gene flow between colonies; processes that question the genetic cohesion of geographically separated populations and which could imply multiple origins from predecessors with limited gene flow. We analysed species cohesion and the potential for long-distance dispersal in the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola by studying colony structure in eastern South Africa and the cohesion between this population and Namibian populations previously published. Data from both areas were (re)analysed for historic demographic parameters. Eastern South African S. dumicola were closely related to an east Namibian lineage, showing cohesion of S. dumicola relative to its sister species. Colony structure was similar in both areas with mostly monomorphic colonies, but haplotype diversity was much reduced in eastern South Africa. Here, the population structure indicated recent population expansion. By contrast, Namibia constitutes an old population, possibly the geographic origin of the species. Both the comparison of the eastern South African and Namibian lineages and the distribution within eastern South Africa show the potential for long-distance dispersal in few generations via colony propagation.