Collaborative Research: Phylogeny and diversification of the orb weaving spiders (Araneae)

本项目将记录圆织蜘蛛的进化和多样化，以解决动物进化中一个长期存在的问题，即圆织蜘蛛主要群体的起源和谱系关系。蜘蛛是陆地生态系统中最具多样性和吸引力的动物群体之一，是大多数陆地生态系统中占主导地位的节肢动物捕食者。圆蛛之所以引人注目，不仅是因为迄今为止所描述的物种数量众多，还因为它们觅食网的结构多样性，从高度几何形状的圈套设计（通常被认为是动物工程学的顶峰）到片状和不规则的穗轴网。理解网络进化和多样化需要一个关于潜在系谱模式的经验性强的假设？生命的蜘蛛树传统的解剖学和遗传学方法还没有对这个问题给出令人信服的答案，因此我们对这一群体进化的理解远远不能令人满意。该项目的研究人员将使用新方法收集遗传数据来回答这个长期存在的问题。这项研究的结果将是许多生物学家感兴趣的任何比较方面的orb-weavers工作，因为它将提供基因组资源和基本的比较基础上的研究广泛多样性的主题（丝绸生物学，性选择，毒液进化等）。该项目将作为博士后，研究生和本科生研究人员的培训平台。此外，该项目还将在哈佛自然历史博物馆举办一个公开展览，探讨圆织蜘蛛的进化和生物学。将通过120个转录组的测序和使用现代DNA测序技术进行系统发育推断的靶捕获方法产生新的数据一个圆虫分类学样本，包括所有21个已知的圆虫家族的代表和一系列不同的外群。这些基因组数据将被用来推断家庭水平的系统发育关系的圆织蜘蛛使用的分析技术的多样性。PI还将分析85个选定的圆形动物的形态矩阵，主要基于现有的大量数据。本计画将利用系统发育分析的结果，进行圆织者多样化与网路架构演化的比较分析。

This project will chronicle the evolution and diversification of the orb-weaving spiders to resolve a long-standing problem in animal evolution, that is, the origin and genealogical relationships of the main groups of orb-weavers. Ubiquitous, diverse, and exclusively predatory, spiders are one the most diverse and fascinating animal groups and the dominant arthropod predators in most terrestrial ecosystems. Orb-weavers are remarkable not only because of the high number of species described so far, but also because of the extraordinary architectural diversity of their foraging webs, ranging from highly geometric snare designs, often regarded as a pinnacle of animal engineering, to sheet and irregular cob webs. Understanding web evolution and diversification requires an empirically robust hypothesis about the underlying genealogical patterns?the spider tree of life. Traditional anatomical and genetic methods have not yet produced a compelling answer to this problem, and thus our understanding of the evolution of this group is far from satisfactory. The researchers of this project will use new methods to gather genetic data to answer this long-standing question. The results of this research will be of interest to many biologists working on any comparative aspects of orb-weavers because it will provide the genomic resources and the fundamental comparative basis for studies on a broad diversity of topics (silk biology, sexual selection, venom evolution, etc.). This project will serve as a training platform for postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate researchers. In addition, the project will produce a public exhibit at the Harvard Museum of Natural History that will explore the evolution and biology of orb-weaving spiders.A team of three investigators, experts in arachnid systematics and with a long and productive history of research collaboration, will generate novel data through the sequencing of 120 transcriptomes and target capture approaches using modern DNA sequencing techniques for phylogenetic inference for a taxonomic sample of orbicularians that would include representatives of all 21 known families of orb-weavers and a diverse array of outgroups. These genomic data will be used to infer the family-level phylogenetic relationships of orb-weaving spiders using a diversity of analytical techniques. The PIs will also analyze a morphological matrix of 85 selected orbicularians largely based on extensive data already at hand. This project will use the results of the phylogenetic analyses to carry out comparative analyses of orb-weaver diversification and of web architecture evolution.