Systematics and phylogeny of Mastigoproctinae Speijer, 1933 (Arachnida: Uropygi: Thelyphonidae)

• Grant number: 22/10221-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2023
• End date: October 05, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Pinto da Rocha
• Grantee: Daniel Castro Pereira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/02601-6 - Systematics of Mastigoproctinae Speijer, 1933 (Arachnida: Uropygi: Thelyphonidae), focusing on North- and Central-American taxa, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

Uropygi is an arachnid order comprised by approximately 120 extant species, all placed in one subfamily - Thelyphonidae. This family is divided into four subfamilies: Hypoctoninae, Thelyphoninae, Typopeltinae and Mastigoproctinae. Mastigoproctinae is comprised by 30 species allocated in seven genera, and 21 of these species belong to the type genus, Mastigoproctus. The main objectives of this work are to test the monophyly of Mastigoproctinae and its genera, as well as to understand the phylogenetic relationships of the group and the validity of the subfamily species. An analysis of the phylogenetic relationships of Uropygi subfamilies will also be performed. For this, we will use specimens from the following collections: Laboratório de Aracnologia da Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto Butantan de São Paulo, Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. The specimens will be used in morphological and molecular analyses. For morphological data, maximum parsimony will be implemented in a character matrix. For molecular data, we will perform maximum likelihood and bayesian inference analyses. Moreover, both datasets will be jointly analysed under total evidence analysis, under maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and bayesian inference criteria. We will sequence the following molecular markers by the Sanger method: COI, 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, ITS2, 18S rRNA and 28S rRNA.