Abstract
With almost 600 species, the latest molecular phylogeny of pholcid spiders (Eberle et al. 2018, BMC Evolutionary Biology) more than triples the largest previously available molecular phylogeny of the family. At the level of genera, the coverage is high (86%, i.e., 75 of the 87 named genera), and at the level of subfamilies it is complete. The present paper is an effort to critically evaluate the implications of this phylogeny for pholcid systematics. The analyses largely support the division of Pholcidae into five subfamilies: Ninetinae, Arteminae, Modisiminae, Smeringopinae, and Pholcinae. Their compositions are largely unchanged except that Chisosa Huber, 2000 is moved from Ninetinae to Arteminae. The positions of Artema Walckenaer, 1837 and Priscula Simon, 1893 in this system remain dubious. Relationships among subfamilies remain weakly supported, except for the sister group relationship between Smeringopinae and Pholcinae. Several major clades within subfamilies are separated from each other along geographical boundaries; for example within Modisiminae a South American clade and a Central + North American + Caribbean clade, and within Smeringopinae a Sub-Saharan clade and a clade ranging from the Mediterranean to Central Asia. Central + North American + Caribbean clades in both Ninetinae and Modisiminae may originate from South American ancestors.Many taxonomic changes are suggested by the data, some of which are formally implemented herein. Two new genera result from the splitting of Calapnita Simon, 1892 and Panjange Deeleman-Reinhold & Deeleman, 1983, respectively: Nipisa Huber, gen. n.; and Apokayana Huber, gen. n. Nine new genera result from splitting of Pholcus: Cantikus Huber, gen. n.; Kelabita Huber, gen. n.; Kintaqa Huber, gen. n.; Muruta Huber, gen. n.; Meraha Huber, gen. n.; Paiwana Huber, gen. n.; Pribumia Huber, gen. n.; Teranga Huber, gen. n.; and Tissahamia Huber, gen. n. Two genera are newly synonymized: Platnicknia Özdikmen & Demir, 2009 is synonymized with Modisimus Simon, 1893; Sihala Huber, 2011 is synonymized with Pholcus Walckenaer, 1805. Pholcusagadir Huber, 2011 is moved to Micropholcus Deeleman-Reinhold & Prinsen, 1987, resulting in the new combination Micropholcusagadir (Huber, 2011).
Highlights
Pholcidae is among the most species-rich spider families (World Spider Catalog 2018) and includes some of the spiders best known to the general public due to their occurrence in houses all over the world
The present paper is an effort to critically evaluate the implications of this phylogeny for pholcid systematics
The idea of the present paper is to complement the primary phylogenetic data in Eberle et al (2018) with a detailed account of arachnological implications and to look at and beyond support values; we compare the molecular phylogeny with phylogenies derived from cladistic analysis of morphological characters and other information, and distinguish between clades that we consider a solid basis for further work and clades that we consider in need of further phylogenetic research
Summary
Pholcidae is among the most species-rich spider families (World Spider Catalog 2018) and includes some of the spiders best known to the general public due to their occurrence in houses all over the world. Even though for some species only one gene (CO1) was sequenced, our analyses support several species groups and deeper relationships proposed previously (Huber 2013), based on cladistic analysis of morphological characters.
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