A phylogenetic approach to spider diversification

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Two fundamental tasks of biodiversity science are to discover and characterize the basic units of biodiversity (species), and to resolve the pathways of genetic descent by which life diversified (phylogenetic history). We propose to resolve in detail the phylogenetic history of one particular group, the salticid spiders, and apply our results to studies of behavioural evolution, visual ecology, and the role of hybridization in diversification. Using genome-wide data, we will work at the scope of the whole family (which has >6000 species), targeting taxa that will help resolve the number of times three-colour vision has evolved independently (probably at least 4 times), thus enabling comparative studies on how colour vision evolves. We will also focus on the spider genus Habronattus, where previous results hint to an evolutionary interplay among courtship behaviour, chromosome evolution, and hybridization. To interpret the evolution of this group, we will develop new methods to analyze character evolution when phylogenetic histories are complex (technically, with incomplete lineage sorting and introgression). We will continue to improve the informatics infrastructure of phylogenetic biology by enhancing our widely-used analytical tools. In the course of this work we will also discover and describe new species of spiders. We will train highly qualified personnel in theoretical biology and bioinformatics, DNA sequencing and data analysis, biological field work, and arthropod biodiversity studies.