Systematics of the Spider Family Theridiidae

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9707744 GILLESPIE Spiders are among the most diverse groups of organisms on earth, and are exceptional for their web-spinning abilities and diverse feeding strategies. Although a number of studies have examined relationships among spiders, one of the seven largest families, the comb-footed spiders (Theridiidae), remains an assemblage of poorly defined species. Besides being a large and abundant group, the Theridiidae exhibit a wide spectrum of unique ecological and behavioral attributes that make them unusually interesting. For example, some groups have developed the behavior of feeding exclusively on the webs of other species; others have elaborate web architectures; still others are social, living in large communal webs and sharing in the activities of capturing insects and tending the eggs and young. The family includes some well known and striking forms, such as the Hawaiian happy face spider and the notorious Black Widow. In this research, Rosemary Gillespie and Jonathan Coddington will make use of several different types of morphological and molecular characters to determine the phylogenetic relationships among comb-footed spiders, a previously difficult problem made more tractable by advances in phylogenetic analysis. The analysis will help the investigators determine how, and how often, the many shapes, sizes, colors, behaviors, ecological associations and venoms have appeared during the history of this spider family on Earth.