Identification of phenotypes associated to adaptation in Ischnothele (Araneae, Ischnothelidae) on Brazilian dry diagonal

• Grant number: 22/02373-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2022
• End date: December 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology
• Agreement: NSF - Dimensions of Biodiversity and BIOTA
• Principal Investigator: Vera Nisaka Solferini
• Grantee: Analice Gabrielle Marquezin Gomes
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/03428-5 - Dimensions US-BIOTA-Sao Paulo: traits as predictors of adaptive diversification along the Brazilian Dry Diagonal, AP.BTA.TEM

Abstract

In South America there are two large humid forests, the Amazon Forest and the Atlantic Forest, divided by a diagonal of hot and dry climate domains, called eastern dry diagonal, with origin in the middle Miocene. In Brazil, the diagonal is composed by Cerrado and Caatinga. To survive in these environments, organisms have phenotypes associated with adaptations. Among the invertebrates that inhabit this formation, the spider genus Ischnothele has species in dry environments, I. annulata, and humid forests, I. guianensis and I. caudata. The present work intends to make use of morphometric techniques and statistical analysis to identify adaptive phenotypes in Mygalomorphae spiders of the genus Ischnothele. (AU)