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Student - poster presentation
The many faces of
Cantuaria
: morphological
plasticity in New Zealand’s trapdoor spiders
Victoria R. Smith
1
, Cor J. Vink
2
, Emily D. Fountain
3
, Rob
Cruickshank
1
, Adrian M. Paterson
1
1Department of Ecology, Lincoln University, Lincoln
7647, Christchurch, New Zealand;
2
Canterbury
Museum, Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch 8013, New
Zealand;
3
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Depart-
ment of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, 1630 Linden
Drive, Madison, WI 53706-1598, USA
vikki.smith@lincolnuni.ac.nzNew Zealand’s endemic trapdoor spider genus,
Cantu-
aria
(Idiopidae), is thought to contain 42 species in 10
distinct clades. While researching their biogeography, we
found that genetic phylogenies from multiple loci were
incongruent with morphological species delimitations.
Male genitalia, while often useful in mygalomorph tax-
onomy, are highly polymorphic even within populations
of
Cantuaria
. Our poster reveals the phylogenetic rela-
tionships within the genus
Cantuaria
, and discusses the
plasticity of behavioural and morphological traits.
Keywords: phylogeography, palp, Australasia, localised
distribution, speciation, characters
Student - poster presentation
A new record of the genus
Idris
(Scelioni-
dae: Scelioninae: Idrini) from South Korea
*Ju Hyeong Sohn
1
, Subin Choi
1
, Jun Ho Chae
2
, Hyojoong
Kim
1
, Jun Yeol Choi
3
1
Department of Biology, Kunsan National University,
Gunsan, 573-101, Republic of Korea;
2
Department
of Biology, Gangwon National University, 200-701,
Republic of Korea;
3
Crop Foundation Division, National
Institute of Crop Science, 55365, Republic of Korea
simon0101@naver.comThe family Scelionidae is distributed all around the
world, which has approximately 3,000 species within 150
genera in the world. To date 39 species of 15 genera from
three subfamilies in Scelionidae are recorded in South
Korea. In this study, we report a new record of the genus
Idris
with one species. There are many parasitory and
predatory insects specializing on spider eggs. Among sce-
lionids, some species (
Baeus achaearneus, Comastichus
zopheros, Idris
sp.) parasitize spider eggs. However, there
was no Korean record for scelionid wasps parasitizing
in egg sacs of spider. Based on morphology, ecology, and
DNA identification, we recognized this species, Idris sp.,
being new to Korea. All examined specimens and DNA
samples are deposited in Kunsan National University.
Keywords: Hymenoptera, Scelilionidae, Scelionae, Idrini,
Idris
, parasitoid wasps, spider eggs
Student - oral presentation
Spider diversity response to garlic mustard
invasion in a Wisconsin forest understory
*Megan Sprovach, Michael L. Draney
Department of Natural and Applied Sciences, Uni-
versity of Wisconsin - Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive,
Green Bay, WI 54311-7001, USA
msprovach@zoho.comLittle attention has been paid to non-herbivorous inver-
tebrates, such as spiders, when assessing the impact of
invasive plant species on animal biodiversity. In June
2015, we explored how spider community diversity is affected
by the presence of the invasive forest understory herb garlic
mustard (
Alliaria petiolata
) by sampling spiders using beat
trays and handheld aspirators at a rate of 0.25 person-hours
within thirty (5 X 5 m) plots at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanc-
tuary in Green Bay, WI. We measured the percent cover of
A.
petiolata
within each plot, calculated Shannon’s Diversity for
adult spiders, and assessed individual spider species for possi-
ble correlation with
A. petiolata
presence. A one-way ANOVA
revealed that Shannon’s Diversity and Berger-Parker index
values of mature spiders responded differently among specific
ranges of
A. petiolata
cover (p=0.01 and 0.03 respectively).
Counts of the native Linyphiid
Ceraticelus fissiceps
correlated
with
A. petiolata
percent cover under a quasipoisson regres-
sion (p=0.02). The results of this study suggest how spiders,
unlike host-specific herbivores, may benefit from additional
structural complexity resulting from a plant invasion.
Keywords: garlic mustard, community ecology, invasion
ecology, spider conservation
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DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE
REPORTS
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No. 3, July 2, 2016
Cushing