Unravelling the goblin spiders puzzle: rDNA phylogeny of the family Oonopidae (Araneae)

Abstract

The mega-diverse haplogyne family of goblin spiders (Oonopidae Simon, 1890) has long been among the most poorly known families of spiders. However, since the launch of the goblin spider Planetary Biodiversity Inventory project knowledge about Oonopidae is rapidly expanding. Currently, Oonopidae is placed within the superfamily Dysderoidea and is divided into three subfamilies. Nevertheless, the monophyly and internal phylogeny of this family has not yet been investigated based on DNA sequence data. Hence, this study reports the first phylogeny based on ribosomal sequence data including 37 oonopid genera and representatives of all families within the Dysderoidea. These results suggest that the majority of the oonopid genera constitute a natural group. Moreover, two subfamilies Orchestininae and Sulsulinae and several morphologically defined groups e.g. the Zyngoonops- and Dysderina-groups, were well supported. In contrast, the Pelicinus-, Stenoonops- and Scaphiella-groups were not corroborated. Although most genera represented by more than one specimen were recovered as monophyletic, our study casts doubt on the monophyly of the genus Aschnaoonops Makhan & Ezzatpanah, 2011. Furthermore, the results corroborate that a low degree of body sclerotisation might be considered as a plesiomorphic trait.