Ancient spiders on Moa’s Ark? - Biogeography, taxonomy and systematics of the enigmatic odd-clawed spiders

• Applicants: Danilo Harms, Ph.D.; Professor Peter Michalik, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Systematics and Morphology (Zoology)
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 427359627

Australasia is one of the most interesting biogeographical regions in the world but the impact of geological and climatic events on the evolutionary history and diversification of the present fauna are still not well understood. New Zealand may or may not have been submerged during the Oligocene marine transgression causing major (and potentially total) local extinction whereas Australia has undergone rapid aridification in the last 20 million years from a continent once covered with lush rainforests to the arid deserts that dominate today. Here, we will investigate an ancient lineage of arachnids, the odd-clawed spiders (Gradungulidae), which are only occurring in forests and cave-like habitats of eastern Australia and Southern New Zealand. Using a comprehensive taxon sampling we will not only address the taxonomy and phylogeny of this enigmatic family using morphological and molecular methods, but will also test whether these spiders are post-Oligocene arrivers in New Zealand (“Goodbye Gondwana” hypothesis) as implied by a recent transcriptomic study challenging the spider tree of life. Furthermore, we will test a model of mesic biome evolution in Australia for ancient relict lineages and explore recently-proposed hypotheses about the biogeographical structure and evolutionary capacity of a moisture-dependent relict lineage on this rapidly drying continent. We will use a combined approach of targeted field collection, traditional genetic (Sanger) and novel genomic (UCE) methods, biogeographical analyses, modelling approaches and taxonomy to unravel the evolutionary history of this truly enigmatic spider lineage endemic to Australasia.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants