Phylogeography of the Cerrado endemic species of spiders Dolichothele mottai Revollo, Silva & Bertani, 2017 (Aranae, Mygalomorphae, Theraphosidae)

• Grant number: 22/02669-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2022
• End date: March 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Agreement: NSF - Dimensions of Biodiversity and BIOTA
• Principal Investigator: Vera Nisaka Solferini
• Grantee: Lucas Oliveira Mello
• 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

The Dry Diagonal is a corridor of open formations that occurs in a wide gradient of environmental conditions and comprises three phytogeographic domains, Chaco, Caatinga and Cerrado. The Cerrado formed approximately ten million years ago and has as outstanding features its seasonal climate, dystrophic soils, relief of plateaus and depressions and its great biodiversity. One of the main hypotheses to explain the diversity of this region are the Quaternary climatic fluctuations, in which niche retractions and expansions led to population isolation. However, such fluctuations affected different groups in different ways and studies with different groups are necessary so that we can understand the impact of these events more clearly. The spider species Dolichothele mottai (Mygalomorphae, Theraphosidae) is an endemic species of Cerrado stricto sensu and is an interesting model for phylogeographic studies in this region due to its distribution in the biome and ease of collection. Thus, in order to contribute to the understanding of the evolutionary history of the Cerrado, this study aims to use a phylogeographic approach, describing the population structure and calculating the divergence time between different lineages of Dolichothele mottai, coupled with ecological niche modeling and testing of demographic models, being the first phylogeography study with Cerrado Mygalomorphae. (AU)