Southeast Asian pholcid spiders: diversity, phylogenetic relationships, and multiple convergent shifts among microhabitats

幽灵蛛是最多样化的蜘蛛家族之一，但它们主要分布在热带，而且缺乏专家，长期以来一直阻碍着人们对该群体的了解。过去15年的集中努力极大地改善了这种情况，但东南亚的分类群仍然是一个主要的知识差距。本项目旨在缩小这一差距，除分类学外，还侧重于三个主要问题：(1)东南亚类群如何适应黄鼠科的系统发育？(2)多样性和分布格局与新大陆和非洲地区的可比性吗？(3)是否有证据表明微生境之间的进化变化与物种多样性(适应性物种形成)之间存在因果关系？资金主要用于被认为是成功完成这一项目的先决条件的四个项目：(1)探险，收集DNA-Ready标本和关于微生境和多样性的数据；(2)分子工作的消耗品；(3)博士生进行基础分子工作和特定分类群的分类处理；(4)墨卡托研究员(Dimitar Dimitrov博士)在分子系统发育和适应性物种形成分析方面密切合作。

Pholcid spiders are among the most diverse spider families but their mainly tropical distribution and lack of specialists have long hampered knowledge about the group. A concentrated effort over the last 15 years has dramatically improved the situation but Southeast Asian taxa remain a major gap of knowledge. The present project aims at closing this gap and focuses, apart from the taxonomy, on three major questions: (1) how do Southeast Asian taxa fit into the phylogeny of Pholcidae? (2) Are patterns of diversity and distribution comparable to those in New World and African regions? (3) Is there evidence for a causal relationship between evolutionary shifts among microhabitats and species diversity (adaptive speciation)? Funding is sought mainly for four items that are considered prerequisites for a successful completion of this project: (1) for expeditions to collect DNA-ready specimens and data about microhabitat and diversity; (2) for consumables for molecular work; (3) for a PhD student to do fundamental molecular work and taxonomic treatment of specific taxa; (4) for a Mercator Fellow (Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov) to work in close cooperation on the molecular phylogeny and on the analyses on adaptive speciation.