Cladistic analysis and revision of the genus Neodiplothele Mello-Leitão, 1917 (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Barychelidae)

• Grant number: 24/23514-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2025
• End date: May 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: José Paulo Leite Guadanucci
• Grantee: Pedro Henrique Dias da Silva Costa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Mygalomorphae spiders comprise around 7% of the diversity of the Araneae and are marked by morphological uniformity, which has always made it difficult to establish discrete morphological characters when delimiting taxa. Due to morphological homogeneity, subjective or vaguely defined character states are common, as is the treatment of continuously varying characters as discrete. An example of this is the structures that differentiate the families Barychelidae and Theraphosidae. Sasoninae, a subfamily of Barychelidae, is made up of four genera, only one of which does not occur in the Neotropical region. Among the genera of neotropical Sasoninae, Neodiplothele Mello-Leitão, 1917 is the most specious and has a wide distribution in Brazil, although a substantial number of new species are expected for the genus. Furthermore, the discovery of species morphologically similar to the genus, but with posterior middle spinnerets, destabilises the taxonomy of the genus, since the absence of this structure is diagnostic. In this context, in addition to revising the genus and describing the new species, the aim is to assess the monophyly of the genus, reconstruct the relationships between its species and position it within Crassitarsae. The aim of this project is to carry out a morphological cladistic analysis for Neodiplothele, combining discrete characters and linear and geometric morphometrics to assess the relationships between species and the evolution of characters. In this way, it will be possible to test the morphometric approach in the treatment of continuous characters in parsimony analysis matrices using Neodiplothele as a model for Mygalomorphae.