From Gondwana to GAARlandia: Evolutionary history and biogeography of ogre‐faced spiders (Deinopis)

Abstract

Aim We explore the evolutionary history of the ogre‐faced spiders (Deinopis) from their Early Cretaceous origins to present day. Specifically, we investigate how vicariance and dispersal have shaped distribution patterns of this lineage. Within the Caribbean, we test the role of GAARlandia, a hypothesized land bridge that connected South America to the Greater Antilles during the Eocene–Oligocene transition (~35–33 Ma), in the biogeography of Deinopis. Taxon Araneae: Deinopidae: Deinopis. Location Caribbean islands, with additional global exemplars. Methods Combining standard Sanger sequence data with an Anchored Hybrid Enrichment (AHE) phylogenomic dataset, we use Bayesian inference to estimate the phylogenetic relationships of Deinopis. “BioGeoBEARS” is used to test the GAARlandia hypothesis, and to pinpoint major dispersal events in the biogeographic history of Deinopis. Results The phylogeny supports the nesting of a Caribbean clade within a continental grade. Model comparisons indicate GAARlandia as the best fitting model, and the biogeographic analyses reflect the geologic history within the Caribbean. Ancient and recent overwater dispersal events are also indicated within this lineage. There is also an ancient 113 Ma split into Old and New World clades. Main Conclusions The Deinopis phylogeny corresponds well with geography. This is reflected in the support for the GAARlandia land bridge hypothesis and the phylogenetic relationships within and among Caribbean islands mirroring nuances of Caribbean geologic history. Overwater dispersal also plays an important role in the biogeographic history of this lineage as implicated in the colonization of the volcanic and sedimentary Lesser Antilles and in a “reverse” colonization of North America. The spider family Deinopidae is an ancient lineage with origins dating back to Gondwana. While overwater dispersal has clearly played a role in the biogeography of the genus, the Deinopis phylogeny bears a strong signature of ancient geological events.

Global biogeography of Tetragnatha spiders reveals multiple colonization of the Caribbean

“…Our results support the monophyly of the four-jawed spiders but reject the monophyly of the Caribbean Tetragnatha. In the Caribbean, we find low levels of endemism yet high diversity within Tetragnatha, an unusual pattern considering other spider biogeographic research in the Caribbean Chamberland et al, 2018;Dziki et al, 2015;McHugh et al, 2014;Sánchez-Ruiz et al, 2015;Zhang and Maddison, 2012). The time calibrated phylogenetic reconstruction allows for an early overwater colonization of the Caribbean by Tetragnatha spiders.…”

“…To construct a more general picture of Tetragnatha dispersal ability, we compared biogeographic patterns of the Caribbean Tetragnatha with those of other Caribbean lineages of known biogeography and their estimated dispersal abilities in the theoretical context of the intermediate dispersal hypothesis model (IDM) Claramunt et al, 2012). In all cases, local (Caribbean) as well as global species richness of Tetragnatha is greater than in other genera with putatively poor dispersers such as: Cyrtognatha (Čandek et al 2018 'in review'), Deinopis (Chamberland et al, 2018), Micrathena (McHugh et al, 2014, Loxosceles and Sicarius (Binford et al, 2008), Spintharus Dziki et al, 2015), Selenops . Moreover, attributes associated with putatively poor dispersers such as high levels of single island endemism and low numbers of colonization events are not reconstructed in the case of Caribbean Tetragnatha.…”

“…Spiders are becoming popular in biogeographic research Chamberland et al, 2018;Cotoras et al, 2018;Gillespie et al, 2018), and are particularly suitable as models due to the breath of their taxonomic, genetic, evolutionary, and biological diversity. Spiders represent an ancient lineage that today comprises over 47,000 described, and likely many more, species from 117 families (WSC, 2018) inhabiting most terrestrial ecosystems.…”

Early Oligocene chinchilloid caviomorphs from Puerto Rico and the initial rodent colonization of the West Indies

“…This rodent example would support the GAARlandia hypothesis advocating that such a land connection occurred around the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT, [11,18,19]). This subaerial connection between South America and the West Indies complex, corresponding to the emerged Aves Ridge, is also advocated for explaining the origin of other terrestrial organisms on the Caribbean islands [7,22,[24][25][26][27][28] or the dispersal from the islands to the mainland [35]. Moreover, once phylogenetically constrained (figure 4), the South American fossil record is compatible with chinchilloid dispersal(s) from northern areas of South America around the EOT, i.e.…”

Biogeographical history of golden orbweavers: Chronology of a global conquest

“…While biogeographical studies often include time stratification of dispersal probabilities between areas, the estimates are usually rough‐scaled and arbitrary (e.g. Chamberland et al, 2018; Eberle, Fabrizi, Lago, & Ahrens, 2017; Weaver, Cruz, Johnson, Dupin, & Weaver, 2016). Our study adds precision to a global analysis by applying measured distances among geographical entities at geological time intervals.…”