20th International Congress of Arachnology

100

DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE

REPORTS

No. 3, July 2, 2016

Cushing

Theraphosa, Phormictopus, Hemirrhagus

, will be exam-

ined towards a better knowledge of stridulating setae types

for the whole subfamily.

Keywords: stridulating, tarantula, Theraphoside,

Mygalomorphae

Oral presentation

Evolution of tarsal structures in

Mygalomorphae

Jose Paulo Leite Guadanucci

, Juliana Paneczko Jurgilas

Rafael Prezzi Indicatti

, Laura Tavares Miglio

Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências

de Rio Claro, Universidade Estadual Paulista,

Avenida 24A n.1515, CEP 13506-900, Rio Claro, SP,

Brazil;

Laboratório Especial de Coleções Zoológicas,

Instituto Butantan, Avenida Vital Brazil, 1500, CEP

05503-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil;

Museu Paraense

Emilio Goeldi, Laboratório de Aracnologia, Avenida

Perimetral, 1901, CEP 66077-830, Belém, PA, Brazil

joseguadanucci@gmail.com

Mygalomorphae comprise a monophyletic group that

includes trapdoor spiders, funnel web spiders, tarantu-

las. They are considered a primitive group as they retain

several plesiomorphic spider features. In the present work,

we studied the tarsi of representatives of all 16 myga-

lomorph families under Scanning Electron Microscope

(SEM) and recorded each distinct cuticular structure

found. We recorded 10 distinct types of setae: (1) stri-

ated setae, characterized by longitudinal marks and

with varying amounts of barbs, found in all families and

Lisphistiomorphae; (2) covering setae, located only on

lateral faces of tarsi and distinguished from the other types

by the bent base and varying texture among the distinct

families, recorded in all Crassitarsae and some Dipluridae;

two kinds of adhesive setae, (3) claws tufts, synapomor-

phic of Theraphosidae+Barychelidae, and (4) scopula,

common to all Crassitarsae, plus Euctenizoidina and some

Dipluridae, (5) apical tarsus setae, similar to adhesive

setae, but differ by the long and thin apex, are present in

all families in varying densities, (6) epitrichobothrial

setae, short, with many small barbs and always located

interspersed with trichobothria, synapomorphic of

Theraphosidae+Barychelidae, (7) filiform, and (8) clavate

trichobothria, both inserted in a distinct bothrium, (9 and

10) sensory setae, recognized by the diagonal marks and

distinguished in two types: one of them is usually very long

with a tapering apex, present on both sexes and all sur-

faces of the tarsi (as well as other parts of the spider body),

and another type of sensory setae is exclusive of males,

located on the ventral surface of the tarsi. Regarding these

last three setae (7-9), the distribution and density through-

out the legs and families are phylogenetically informative.

Along with other features such as tegumentary texture and

tarsal organ, we defined 13 new morphological charac-

ters, some with strong phylogenetic signal.

Keywords: Mygalomorphae, scopula, seta, phylogeny,

morphology, tarsus

Student - poster presentation

Spider form and function: foraging guild,

morphology and performance

*Andrea Haberkern

, David Gray

CSUN, 22054 Wyandotte St., Canoga Park, CA 91303;

CSUN, Department of Biology, 18111 Nordhoff St.,

#CR327 Northridge, CA 91330

andrea.haberkern.526@my.csun.edu

Spiders are often the most abundant and diverse predators

in terrestrial ecosystems. They employ a variety of hunting

strategies in different environments. We are examining

ecomorphology of spiders to better understand which traits

are adaptive in each environment. When variation in traits

leads to increase in spider performance, those individuals

with advantageous morphologies may have differential

reproductive success, leading to natural selection on mor-

phology. Here we examine the adaptive morphology of

23 families within several clades of Araneomorphs to test

two main objectives: (1) Use morphological measures and

multivariate statistics (i.e. DFA) to attempt to distinguish

among spider foraging guilds based on morphology. (2)

Test the association between organismal performance

and morphology of traits indicative of guild member-

ship. Spiders within the same foraging guild have similar

morphologies, independent of phylogenetic relatedness.

Morphology was more varied among foraging guilds. We