20th International Congress of Arachnology

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80 DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE REPORTS | No. 3, July 2, 2016
Cushing
somatic features that make them easily identifiable. The
median epigynal piece, sometimes identified as a median
septum, is better considered a scape, as its posterior end is
separated from and directed away from the main part of
the epigyne. Furthermore, the scape has a minute “hood”
at its posterior end, very similar in appearance to that of
Misumenops F.O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1900, which sug-
gests that the two genera are related, contrary to previously
published opinions. The epigynal “hood” of thomisids is
considered misnamed, as it engages the retrolateral tibial
apophysis (RTA), and is renamed the “coupling pocket”
to conform with other RTA clade members. A hood is con-
sidered to be an epigynal outgrowth that partly encloses
a depression that engages a structure on the palpal bulb
rather than the palpal tibia.
Keywords: Thomisidae, Misumessus , taxonomy, new
species, biogeography
Student - Oral presentation
From the mountains to the coast and back
again: ancient biogeography in a radia-
tion of short-range endemic harvestmen
from California
Kristen Emata, Hedin Marshal
5500 Campanile Drive San Diego, CA 92128
The harvestmen genus Calicina is represented by 25 short-
range endemic species occurring in the western Sierra
Nevada, Transverse and Coast Ranges of California. Our
principal aim was to reconstruct the temporal and spatial
biogeographic history of this arachnid lineage. We inferred
a time-calibrated species tree for 21 of 25 described
Calicina species using multiple genes and multilocus
coalescent-based methods. This species tree was used as a
framework for algorithmic biogeographic and divergence
time analyses, and a phylogenetic canonical correlation
analysis (CCA) was used to examine the relationship
between morphological evolution and environmental vari-
ables. Species tree and biogeographic analyses indicate
that high-elevation Sierran taxa are early-diverging in
Calicina, with subsequent biogeographic ‘‘criss-crossing”
of lineages from the Sierra Nevada to the Coast Ranges,
back to the Sierra Nevada, then back to Coast Ranges. In
both the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges, distantly-related
parapatric lineages essentially never occur in sympatry.
CCA reveals that in both the Coast Ranges and the Sierra
Nevada, distant phylogenetic relatives evolve convergent
morphologies. Our evidence shows that Calicina is clearly
dispersal-limited, with an ancient biogeographic history
that provides unique insight into the complex geologic
evolution of California since the mid-Paleogene.
Keywords: BioGeoBEARS, California, historical biogeog-
raphy, multispecies coalescent, short-range endemism,
vicariance
Student - Oral presentation
Behavioral response to environmental and
dietary heavy metals by Pardosa milvina
*Lucas Erickson1 , Ann Rypstra 2 , Mary Gardiner3, James
Harwood4
1Department of Biology, Miami University, Oxford,
OH, USA, 45056; 2Department of Biology, Miami
University, Hamilton, OH, USA, 45011; 3 Department
of Entomology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH,
USA, 43210; 4Department of Entomology, University
of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA, 40546
Heavy metal contamination driven by anthropogenic activ-
ity is a widespread environmental issue due to the myriad
harms heavy metals cause. Due to the persistence of heavy
metals in the environment, growing human population,
and increasing industrialization of third world countries,
concerns about heavy metals are projected to increase for
the foreseeable future. Heavy metal contamination in the
soil can have a large influence on epigeal invertebrate
communities but little is know how it may influence the
behavior of these animals that spend their lives closely
associated with the soil. Indeed these invertebrates are
exposed to heavy metals through contact and by contami-
nation of their food source. While heavy metal uptake has
been characterized in many herbivores and detritivores,
there has been less work done on investigating how
invertebrate predators respond to heavy metal contamina-
tion. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that exposure