Developing a New US - Spain Collaboration in Mygalomorph Spider Systematics and Conservation

该项目的目的是促进一系列新的合作，并启动与西班牙巴塞罗那大学的PIS项目Jason Bond(奥本大学)、Marshal Hedin(圣地亚哥州立大学)、Brent Hendrixson(Millsaps学院)和Miquel Arnedo的伙伴关系。巴塞罗那蜘蛛的项目规划之旅将汇集一群研究人员，他们对Mygalomorph蜘蛛的进化、系统学、保护和分类学感兴趣。蜘蛛亚目Mygalomorphae(陷门蜘蛛、狼蛛及其近亲)，是早期分叉蜘蛛的一个独特的生物学分支；它的许多成员都是非蜘蛛学家所熟知的，包括世界上最大的(狼蛛)、最毒的(澳大利亚的漏斗网蜘蛛)和大多数长寿的蜘蛛。这次计划之旅将集中于审查肌型分类的状况，以确定“问题”谱系，汇集现有的所有遗传数据，目的是开发一套更全面的分子标记，开发一套识别形态特征本体论的工作流程和共享形态数据的方法，并制定评估物种边界和保护状态的一般范例。这次计划之旅将在西班牙安达卢西亚地区为期10天的收集之旅中达到高潮。除了开发一系列具体成果以包括一套用于广泛分析蜘蛛系统发育的分子标记外，该项目的重大更广泛影响将涉及培训学生(本科生、研究生和博士后)与分类学、生物多样性保护和进化生物学有关的概念问题。

The purpose of this project is to catalyze a new set of collaborations and initiate a partnership with project PIs Jason Bond (Auburn University), Marshal Hedin (San Diego State University), and Brent Hendrixson (Millsaps College) and Miquel Arnedo, at the University of Barcelona in Spain. The project-planning trip to the Barcelona will bring together a group of investigators who have interests in the evolution, systematics, conservation, and taxonomy of mygalomorph spiders. The spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (trapdoor spiders, tarantulas, and their kin), are a biologically unique clade of early diverging spiders; many of its members are well known to non-arachnologists and include the world's largest (tarantulas), most venomous (Australian "funnel-web" spiders), and most long-lived spiders.The planning trip will focus on reviewing the status of mygalomorph classification to identify "problem" lineages, bring together all of the genetic data currently available with the aim of developing a more comprehensive set of molecular markers, develop a workflow for identifying a set of morphological character ontologies and a means by which to share morphological data, and formulate a general paradigm for evaluating species boundaries and conservation status. The planning trip will culminate in a 10-day collecting trip in the Andalusia region of Spain. In addition to developing a number of tangible outcomes to include a set of molecular markers for broad scale analyses of spider phylogeny, significant broader impacts of the project will involve training students (undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral) in conceptual issues related to systematics, biodiversity conservation and evolutionary biology.