On Sahastata (Araneae: Filistatidae): complementary description of the generotype and two new species from Oman and Morocco

Magalhães, Ivan L. F.; Stockmann, Mark; Marusik, Yuri M.; Zonstein, Sergei

doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4899.1.12

Cited by 937 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The Sahastata we found resembled the species Sahastata nigra (Simon, 1897) that was reported previously from Egypt [28,33]. However, a recent revision of the genus clarified the taxonomic limits of the species Sahastata nigra [28].…”

Section: Sahastata Sp Nov Description and Natural Historysupporting

confidence: 82%

“…DNA sequence data obtained from Sahastata aravaensis (refer to as Sahastata indet. (IFM-0269, Figure 4) in Maglhaes et al, 2020 [28]) indicates this species is more closely related to Sahastata nigra and Sahastata wesolowskae (both from Oman) than to S. wunderlichi (from Morocco) [28] which is consistent with the similarities observed in the morphology of the genitalia and posterior median spinnerets.…”

Section: Relationshipssupporting

confidence: 63%

“…As part of the monitoring, we used pitfall traps, but only for two weeks (in early summer and late summer), and we did not collect any male Sahastata. In addition, it was suggested for other Sahastata species that males are short-lived after maturity, and in captivity, they account for 20-25% of the juveniles raised [28]. We kept female spiders in captivity in the laboratory for two to three years and fed them mainly with ants.…”

Section: Natural Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pictures: (A-E), (G,H): Zeana Ganem, (F): Efrat Gavish-Regev. 25C, [28]) has a similar spermatheca with a tapering membranous portion and might be conspecific or closely related to S. aravaensis. Diagnosis.…”

Section: Supplementary Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sahastata belongs to the family Filistatidae, known as the crevice weaver spiders, an araneomorph family of cribellate spiders [27]. The genus Sahastata is distributed in arid and semi-arid areas, from westernmost Sahara to India, and includes nine known species [27,28], however, prior to our study, the only record of Sahastata from the eastern Mediterranean was from Egypt [28]. As Sahastata lives in burrows in the ground, we hypothesized that the severe changes to its habitat, due to the oil spills, will cause a long-term reduction in its abundance in oil-contaminated soil compared to its abundance in areas with clean soil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Five-Year Monitoring of a Desert Burrow-Dwelling Spider Following an Environmental Disaster Indicates Long-Term Impacts

Gavish‐Regev

Steinpress

Salman

et al. 2022

Insects

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Deserts are characterized by unpredictable precipitation and extreme temperatures. Their fauna and flora are sensitive to anthropogenic environmental changes, and often recover slowly from environmental disasters. The effects of oil spills on the biota of desert regions, however, have scarcely been studied. We predicted that terrestrial invertebrates suffer long-term negative effects from an oil spill, due to their close association with the substrate. Thus, we investigated the effects of two oil spills that occurred in 1975 and 2014 in the hyper-arid ‘Arava desert (Israel), on a spider that constructs silk-lined nests in burrows in compact, sandy soil in this extreme desert habitat. The spider, Sahastata aravaensis sp. nov. (Filistatidae), is described herein. We assessed spider burrow abundance in plots located in oil-contaminated and nearby uncontaminated clean soil (control) areas over five consecutive years and measured habitat characteristics in these plots. In the laboratory, we determined the preference of individuals for clean vs. oil-contaminated soil as a resting substrate. Finally, as this species was previously undescribed, we added a new species description. The abundance of Sahastata was significantly lower in oil-contaminated plots, and this was the case in the 40-year-old oil spill (1975) as well as in the recent one (2014). In laboratory tests, spiders showed a significant preference for the clean soil substrate over the oil-contaminated substrate. In the field, soil crust hardness and vegetation density did not differ significantly between oil-contaminated and control plots, but these measures were highly variable. The burrows were significantly clustered, suggesting that the young disperse only short distances. In the laboratory adult spiders did not dig burrows, perhaps indicating that adults remain permanently in their natal burrows and that in the field they may use vacant burrows. We conclude that Sahastata populations were affected negatively by the oil spills and these effects were long-lasting. We propose that by monitoring their spatial distribution, burrow-dwelling spiders such as Sahastata can be used as effective bioindicators of soil pollution in desert habitats.

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Section: Sahastata Sp Nov Description and Natural Historysupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Relationshipssupporting

confidence: 63%

Section: Natural Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Supplementary Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Five-Year Monitoring of a Desert Burrow-Dwelling Spider Following an Environmental Disaster Indicates Long-Term Impacts

Gavish‐Regev

Steinpress

Salman

et al. 2022

Insects

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Phylogeny and biogeography of the ancient spider family Filistatidae (Araneae) is consistent both with long‐distance dispersal and vicariance following continental drift

Magalhães

Ramı́rez

2022

Cladistics

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Filistatids, the crevice weavers, are an ancient family of cribellate spiders without extant close relatives. As one of the first lineages of araneomorph spiders, they present a complicated mixture of primitive and derived characters that make them a key taxon to elucidate the phylogeny of spiders, as well as the evolution of phenotypic characters in this group. Their moderate diversity (187 species in 19 genera) is distributed mainly in arid and semi‐arid subtropical zones of all continents, except Antarctica. The objective of this paper is to generate a comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis for this family to advance the understanding of its morphological evolution and biogeography, as well as lay the basis for a natural classification scheme. By studying the morphology using optical and electronic microscopy techniques, we produced a matrix of 302 morphological characters coded for a sample of 103 species of filistatids chosen to represent the phylogenetic diversity of the family. In addition, we included sequences of four molecular markers (COI, 16S, H3 and 28S; 3787 aligned positions) of 70 filistatid species. The analysis of the data (morphological, molecular, and combined) consistently indicates the separation of the Filistatidae into two subfamilies, Prithinae and Filistatinae, in addition to supporting several groups of genera: Filistata, Zaitunia and an undescribed genus from Madagascar; Sahastata and Kukulcania; all Prithinae except Filistatinella and Microfilistata; Antilloides and Filistatoides; a large Old World group including Pritha, Tricalamus, Afrofilistata, Labahitha, Yardiella, Wandella and putative new genera; and a South American group formed by Lihuelistata, Pikelinia and Misionella. Pholcoides is transferred to Filistatinae and Microfilistata is transferred to Prithinae, and each represents the sister group to the remaining genera of its own subfamily. Most genera are valid, although Pikelinia is paraphyletic with respect to Misionella, so we consider the two genera as synonyms and propose a few new generic combinations. Considering the new phylogenetic hypothesis, we discuss the evolution of some morphological character systems and the biogeography of the family. The ages of divergence between clades were estimated using a total‐evidence tip‐dating approach by including fossils of Filistatidae and early spider clades; this approach resulted in younger age estimates than those obtained with traditional node‐dating. Filistatidae is an ancient family that started diversifying in the Mesozoic and most genera date to the Cretaceous. Clades displaying transcontinental distributions were most likely affected by continental drift, but at least one clade shows unequivocal signs of transoceanic long‐distance dispersal.

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GBIF custom download for research into locational uncertainty in the world's preserved specimens collections

2021

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On Sahastata (Araneae: Filistatidae): complementary description of the generotype and two new species from Oman and Morocco

Cited by 937 publications

References 8 publications

Five-Year Monitoring of a Desert Burrow-Dwelling Spider Following an Environmental Disaster Indicates Long-Term Impacts

Five-Year Monitoring of a Desert Burrow-Dwelling Spider Following an Environmental Disaster Indicates Long-Term Impacts

Phylogeny and biogeography of the ancient spider family Filistatidae (Araneae) is consistent both with long‐distance dispersal and vicariance following continental drift

GBIF custom download for research into locational uncertainty in the world's preserved specimens collections

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