engleski

The story of Dinaric cave-dwelling dysderid spiders

It all began here in Postojna, with the discovery of the first cave-dwelling spider in the world – dysderid Stalita taenaria Schiödte, 1847. Since then, 21 more cave-dwelling species of the family Dysderidae were described, belonging to seven genera and two subfamilies: Stalagtia and Folkia in the Harpacteinae, and Rhode, Stalita, Mesostalita, Parastalita and Stalitella in the Rhodinae subfamily. Almost all species show high level of cave adaptation and are narrow endemics. The taxonomy of these groups, including their generic status, is based exclusively on morphology and is a matter of debate since there has been no explicit, quantitative phylogenetic hypothesis about the relationships within the family so far. To resolve taxonomy and to understand the origins and diversification of Dinaric cave dysderids, a necessary first step was a thorough taxonomic sampling of the region. Based on that, we performed a target multi-locus phylogenetic analysis, combining mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Additionally, we explored species boundaries using several species delimitation methods, and estimated divergence time combining fossil and biogeographic node calibrations. We uncovered a major, previously overlooked diversity at both species and genera levels, especially within Harpacteinae which show a high level of cryptic diversity. Cave lineages showed a common pattern of long stem branches, which may indicate high extinction levels during the evolutionary history of these groups. We hypothesize that Miocene climatic changes may have played a crucial role in shaping the extant diversity of these cave-dwelling spiders.

cave Dysderidae ; Dinarids ; molecular phylogeny ; biogeography

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