ARTS: Taxonomy and Molecular Systematics of Mesh Web Spiders (Araneae: Dictynidae)

艺术：网状蜘蛛的分类学和分子系统学（蜘蛛目：网蛛科）

• 批准号: 2026623
• 负责人: Sarah Crews
• 金额: $ 79.14万
• 依托单位: California Academy of Sciences
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2026623&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ARTS; Taxonomy; Molecular; Systematics; Mesh

Spiders are an incredibly diverse group of organisms that play an essential role in ecosystems all over the world. In spite of their notoriety and the fear that they often inspire, huge gaps in our knowledge remain for some groups of spiders. Often generalized as small and brown or grey, many spiders in the family Dictynidae are quite colorful, and are perhaps most notable for their intriguing distributional patterns and fascinating ecological characteristics. In fact, this “dark corner” of the spider tree of life comprises a group that occupies virtually every terrestrial ecosystem on earth and contains the only fully aquatic spider species. While some species are endemic to very small areas, others are some of the most widespread of all spider species. This level of variation within a single family of spiders shows considerable potential as a system for answering a broad range of evolutionary and ecological questions, especially as they relate to the evolution of specific characteristics or behaviors. This project aims to resolve the evolutionary relationships among this group of spiders and their relative position within the spider tree of life, shining a light on one of the most poorly known parts of the spider tree of life. Additionally, a main goal of this project is to train the next generation of taxonomic experts, organismal biologists and systematists in Dictynid spiders in the US. Dictynidae are a hugely diverse family nested within the “marronoid clade”. Because the relationships of the genera, of species in the genera, and the relationship of the family within the spider tree of life, are largely unknown, efforts to ask interesting questions in an evolutionary context are stymied. We aim to open the door to evolutionary and ecological studies of the group by creating a taxonomic and phylogenetic scaffold in support of further research for years to come. We will accomplish this by: 1) Revising the moderately diverse, unusual genus Lathys using morphological data and data gathered from Next Generation Sequencing (NGS); 2) Determining the phylogenetic relationships of all dictynid genera using NGS data; 3) Using NGS data to determine the placement of Dictynidae within the spider tree of life. We will collect both specimens of Lathys and representatives of all dictynid genera worldwide with our multinational team of collaborators. Standardized images from all specimens, including types, will be produced using high-resolution stacked images, SEM micrographs, and microCT scanning of nearly 50 amber fossils to allow for consistent morphological analysis. Low coverage genome sequencing will be used to produce molecular data that will be incorporated with the morphological matrix to subsequently be analyzed using Bayesian Inference. This method allows the analysis of a combined morphological and molecular dataset, paramount for the inclusion of fossil taxa, which subsequently allows us to use tip dating to produce a time-calibrated phylogeny. We will conduct these analyses separately at three taxonomic scales: Lathys, all dictynid genera, and the “marronoid clade”. We will use probabilistic inference on the resulting Lathys phylogeny to test Laurasian biogeographic hypotheses. Finally, ancestral state reconstruction will be conducted to examine the evolution of morphological characters as well as ecological and behavioral characters, including aquatic habitat association and hunting strategy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

蜘蛛是一个令人难以置信的多样化的生物群体，在世界各地的生态系统中发挥着重要作用。尽管它们声名狼借，而且经常引起人们的恐惧，但我们对某些蜘蛛种群的认识仍然存在巨大的空白。通常概括为小和棕色或灰色，许多蜘蛛在家庭网蛛是相当丰富多彩的，也许是最值得注意的是他们有趣的分布模式和迷人的生态特征。事实上，蜘蛛生命树的这个“黑暗角落”实际上占据了地球上每一个陆地生态系统，并包含了唯一完全水生的蜘蛛物种。虽然有些物种是非常小的地区特有的，但其他物种是所有蜘蛛物种中分布最广的。这种水平的变化在一个单一的家庭的蜘蛛显示出相当大的潜力，作为一个系统，回答了广泛的进化和生态问题，特别是当他们涉及到特定的特征或行为的进化。该项目旨在解决这组蜘蛛之间的进化关系以及它们在蜘蛛生命树中的相对位置，照亮蜘蛛生命树中最鲜为人知的部分之一。 此外，该项目的一个主要目标是在美国培养下一代分类学专家、生物学家和系统学家。网蝽科是嵌套在“marronoid进化枝”中的一个非常多样化的家族。由于蜘蛛属之间的关系、蜘蛛属中的物种之间的关系以及蜘蛛生命树中的家庭关系在很大程度上是未知的，因此在进化背景下提出有趣问题的努力受到了阻碍。我们的目标是通过创建一个分类学和系统发育支架来支持未来几年的进一步研究，从而为该组的进化和生态研究打开大门。我们将通过以下方式实现这一目标：1）使用形态学数据和从下一代测序（NGS）收集的数据修订中等多样性的、不寻常的属Lathys; 2）使用NGS数据确定所有网蝽属的系统发育关系; 3）使用NGS数据确定网蝽科在蜘蛛生命树中的位置。我们将与我们的跨国合作团队一起收集Lathys和全球所有网蝽属的代表标本。所有标本的标准化图像，包括类型，将使用近50个琥珀化石的高分辨率堆叠图像，SEM显微照片和microCT扫描，以进行一致的形态分析。低覆盖率基因组测序将用于产生分子数据，这些数据将与形态学矩阵合并，随后使用贝叶斯推断进行分析。这种方法允许分析组合的形态和分子数据集，最重要的化石分类群，随后允许我们使用尖端测年产生时间校准的同源性。我们将分别在三个分类尺度上进行这些分析：Lathys，所有的dictynid属，和“marronoid分支”。我们将使用概率推理的结果Lathys的遗传测试Laurasian的地理假说。最后，将进行祖先状态重建，以检查形态特征以及生态和行为特征的演变，包括水生栖息地协会和狩猎策略。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Untold Stories: Reclaiming Histories of Marginalized Scientists From Archives

不为人知的故事：从档案中找回边缘化科学家的历史

• DOI: 10.18061/bssb.v2i1.9189
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Bulletin of the Society of Systematic Biologists
• 作者: Montana, Katherine O.;Kim, Rebekah;Quesada-Khoury, Karim;Basas, Racqyl;Garcia, Gabriella;Richardson-Beatty, Marion;Voong, Viva;Esposito, Lauren A.
• 通讯作者: Esposito, Lauren A.

Measuring What We Don't Know: Biodiversity Catalogs Reveal Bias in Taxonomic Effort

衡量我们不知道的东西：生物多样性目录揭示了分类学工作中的偏见

• DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biac116
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: BioScience
• 影响因子: 10.1
• 作者: Gorneau, Jacob A.;Kulkarni, Siddharth;Cala-Riquelme, Franklyn;Esposito, Lauren A.
• 通讯作者: Esposito, Lauren A.