Spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) as a model to establish areas of endemism in South America.

• Grant number: 11/06506-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2011
• End date: January 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Pinto da Rocha
• Grantee: Daniele Polotow Geraldo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The project intends to define areas of endemism to spiders from South America. The current distribution of the organisms is determined by historical and recent factors, but factors that affected different taxonomic groups in a similar way are going to result in congruence in the endemism patterns. The method of endemicity analysis is going to be used to proposed hypothesis of areas of endemism to South America. The areas are going to be compared to areas of endemism already defined to others taxonomic groups, to verify the congruence. The second objective of this project is to test the hypothesis of evolution of the biota and the biogeografic history of South America using spiders data. Data from literature, dissertations and thesis, and current research in progress are going to be used.