Systematics, Biogeography and Evolutionary Radiations of the Cyphophthalmi (Arachnida, Opiliones)

眼蜘蛛是蜘蛛纲长腿蛛目的一个亚目。它们起源古老，分布广泛，生活在未受干扰的温带至热带湿润森林的落叶层中。除了南极洲以外的所有大陆，以及大多数起源于大陆的岛屿，如新西兰、新喀里多尼亚、苏门答腊岛和马达加斯加，都发现了眼镜蛇。它们居住的许多地方都符合生物多样性热点的条件，这些地区总共只占地球陆地表面积的1.4%，并建议采取优惠的保护政策，因为它们具有高度的多样性。由于其局部分布和较少的扩散能力，眼镜蛇被选为研究大陆起源岛屿的进化辐射、生物地理学和潜在的保护生物学问题的模型。要做到这一点，需要弄清楚它的物种之间的分类和进化关系。我们将使用扫描电子显微镜来研究眼镜虫的形态，并将生成将用标准系统发育算法进行分析的特征列表。其他标本将用于遗传学研究，以产生DNA序列数据，并进行系统发育分析。这两组信息(形态和DNA)将被用来提出群体成员的进化关系并建立分类。进化树还将有助于生物地理模式和地球历史的研究。进化分析将通过使用编写的在大型多处理器计算机集群上并行工作的软件来辅助。需要在新西兰、南非、马达加斯加、热带西非和东南亚进行广泛的实地工作，以获得适合实验室工作的材料，并记录未描述的多样性。分类学、生物地理学和对进化辐射的研究有助于更好地理解在自然界中观察到的模式。优化跨地理区域的多样性知识、分支形成和物种形成可能受益于模型系统的使用。眼镜蛇作为进化生物学新模型的潜在用途，推动了对该群体更高系统学的双重研究，并探索了他们最壮观的适应性辐射之一--在新西兰经历的那次辐射。这项研究将开发一种新的模式系统，将系统发育和生物地理模式与爆炸性辐射的进化研究相结合，并将为未来的生物多样性估计和保护生物学研究奠定基础。将提供关于眼镜蛇的全球知识，以及一个数据库，其中载有该群体估计的所有180个物种的地理信息和插图。在此过程中，一名本科生和一名研究生将接受蜘蛛类进化生物学的全面培训。因此，研究项目的价值既有科学利益，也有社会利益。

Cyphophthalmi constitutes a suborder of the arachnid order Opiliones (daddy-long-legs). Of ancient origin and widespread distribution, they live in the leaf litter of undisturbed temperate to tropical humid forests. Cyphophthalmids have been found in all continents, except Antarctica, and in most islands of continental origin, such as New Zealand, New Caledonia, Sumatra, and Madagascar. Many of the places they inhabit qualify as biodiversity hotspots, areas collectively comprising only 1.4% of the land surface area of the Earth and recommended for preferential conservation policies for having high diversity. Due to their localized distribution and scant dispersal ability, cyphophthalmids have been chosen as a model to study evolutionary radiations in islands of continental origin, biogeography, and potential issues of conservation biology. To do so, the taxonomy and evolutionary relationships among its species need to be worked out. We will use scanning electron microscopy to study the morphology of the cyphophthalmids and will generate lists of characters to be analyzed with standard phylogenetic algorithms. Other specimens will be used for genetic studies in order to generate DNA sequence data also to be analyzed phylogenetically. Both sets of information (morphology and DNA) will be used to propose the evolutionary relationships of the members of the group and to establish a classification. The evolutionary trees will also aid studies of biogeographic patterns and earth history. Evolutionary analyses will be aided with the use of software written to work in parallel on a large multiprocessor computer cluster. Extensive field work in New Zealand, South Africa, Madagascar, tropical West Africa and southeast Asia is required to obtain material suitable for laboratory work and to document undescribed diversity. Systematics, biogeography, and the study of evolutionary radiations have contributed to a better understanding of the patterns observed in nature. Optimizing the knowledge of diversity across geographic areas, cladogenesis, and speciation may benefit from the use of model systems. The potential use of Cyphophthalmi as a new model in evolutionary biology has driven a dual study of the higher systematics of the group and the exploration of one of their most spectacular adaptive radiations, the one undergone in New Zealand. The research will develop a new model system to integrate phylogenetic and biogeographic patterns with evolutionary studies of explosive radiations, and will form the basis for future studies on biodiversity estimates and conservation biology. Global knowledge of the Cyphophthalmi, with a database containing geographical information and illustrations for all the estimated 180 species of the group, will be made available. During the process, one undergraduate and one graduate student will be fully trained in arachnid evolutionary biology. The value of the research project thus has both scientific and social interests.