Dated phylogeny and ancestral range estimation of sand scorpions (Buthidae: Buthacus) reveal Early Miocene divergence across land bridges connecting Africa and Asia

Biogeography and eye size evolution of the ogre-faced spiders

“…Such hypothesized stepping stone dispersal from Africa into Asia via India and Madagascar has been found in taxa with low vagility 97 – 99 . Alternatively, Deinopis could have dispersed through Northern Africa and Eurasia followed by subsequent extinction similar to sand scorpions 100 ; however, our molecular phylogeny shows that the Madagascar clade is more closely related to Asia and India than Africa, consistent with the IndoMadagascar plus stepping stone hypothesis. Because this molecular dataset only included COI data for A. luikenisis from China and Taiwan, further sampling throughout India and Southeast Asia will be required to more rigorously test this dispersal hypothesis.…”

Molecular data do not support the traditional morphology-based groupings in the scorpion family Buthidae (Arachnida: Scorpiones)

“…The extraordinary richness combined with difficult accessibility of some taxa precluded a comprehensive assessment of the family's phylogeny (Borges and Graham, 2016;Ojanguren-Affilastro et al, 2017;Santibáñez-López et al, 2022). Contemporary molecular studies thus focused on specific taxonomic questions (e.g., Sousa et al, 2011;Pedroso et al, 2013;Esposito et al, 2018;Fet et al, 2018;Cain et al, 2021;Klesser et al, 2021) and biogeographic hypotheses testing (e.g., Fet et al, 2003;Shi et al, 2013;Esposito and Prendini, 2019). The traditional morphological grouping was supported by molecular data in the case of the Buthus and Tityus groups (e.g., Borges and Graham, 2016;Ojanguren-Affilastro et al, 2017;Santibáñez-López et al, 2022), including the subfamily Centruroidinae (Esposito and Prendini 2019).…”

Grand challenges in research on arachnid diversity, conservation, and biogeography

“…For example, theoretical foundations for testing dispersal hypotheses have been laid down by Rosemary Gillespie and colleagues (Gillespie et al, 2012), an arachnologist that has worked for decades on spiders on islands, especially Hawaiian and Polynesian spiders. Hence, among arachnids we find severely dispersal limited groups that carry the deep imprints of geological history and are excellently suited to test ancient vicariance biogeographical patterns (Boyer et al, 2007;Opatova et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2015;Cain et al, 2021;Giribet et al, 2022) and others that are more prone to movement (among them taxa that are distributed across the globe via jet streams high in the atmosphere) and have helped inspire the modern field of island biogeography (Gillespie, 2002;Hormiga et al, 2003;Gillespie, 2004;Gillespie et al, 2008;Gillespie et al, 2012;Rominger et al, 2016). Yet, a major challenge remains in accurately estimating dispersal probabilities, usually simply inferred from the organism's biology and e.g.…”

“…Megadiverse lineages, such as arachnids, are perhaps the best suited to study nuances of biogeography in part directly due to their diversity (high resolution tools, redundancies that may compensate for incomplete sampling), and (often) abundance (relative ease of intensive sampling without great impact on populations). The growing emphasis on invertebrate biogeography, where various arachnids play an important role (Boyer et al, 2007;Opatova et al, 2013;Fernańdez and Giribet, 2015;Chamberland et al, 2018;Nogueira et al, 2019;Pfingstl et al, 2019;Chamberland et al, 2020;Chamberland et al 2022;Cain et al, 2021;Derkarabetian et al, 2021;Santibañez-López et al, 2021;Monjaraz-Ruedas et al, 2022), demonstrates the opportunities that lie ahead in the field.…”