Spider phylogenetics and evolution - beyond the trees

RAMIREZ, M.J.

Christchurch

Congreso; XXI International Congress of Arachnology; 2019

Canterbury Museum

Spider systematics has advanced tremendously in the last years from phylogenetic analyses of sequence data, mainly anonymous in terms of phenotype. For the first time the phylogenies are relatively robust and easy to obtain, yet the evolutionary implications for functional morphology, behavior and biogeography are only slowly emerging. For those who are not systematists it is difficult to digest the phylogenies that are published year after year, and for systematists it is not easy to understand or elaborate on the evolutionary implications of their discoveries. In this talk I will try to summarize a personal view of some important advances in spider systematics and how they are linked to general questions of functional anatomy and behavior. Then I will discuss how is it like to investigate the historical biogeography of spiders from a peripheral country far in the southern hemisphere, with access to a peculiar diversity of species, witness of a certain geo-climatic events, temporal scales and adapted to specific habitats. In this presentation I will try to show how evolutionary studies from the south can provide a distinctive and original perspective.