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91
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE
REPORTS
|
No. 3, July 2, 2016
20
th
International Congress of Arachnology
we have investigated the diversity, expression and evolu-
tion of genes encoding venom proteins from the common
house spider (
Parasteatoda tepidariorum
) genome that
was made available through the i5k (5000 arthropod
genomes) initiative. We analyzed the house spider genome
in conjunction with high throughput gene expression data
from RNA-Seq libraries made from venom glands as well as
other tissues and proteomic data to determine this species’
venom composition. These results were considered with
recent transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of venom
composition in the Western black widow spider (
Latrodec-
tus hesperus
), which has revealed common features and
major differences between these species in terms of venom
protein diversity and abundance. We also investigated the
phylogenetic distribution and expression of latrotoxins
and latrodectins, two protein families that are particularly
abundant in
Latrodectus
venoms, as well as their homo-
logs within and across genomes. This revealed contrasting
mechanisms of venom gene family evolution and suggests
that changes in gene expression may in part explain the
extreme toxicity of black widow venom to vertebrates. Given
the distant relationship of
P. tepidariorum
and
L. hesperus
within the large family Theridiidae, this work significantly
advances knowledge of spider venom diversity and provides
an evolutionary framework for identifying the key molecu-
lar features that make black widow venom medically
hazardous.
Keywords: venom, evolution, genomics, transcriptomics,
Latrodectus
Student - Poster presentation
Systematics and Evolution of Plectreuridae
Simon, 1893
Erika Garcia, Charles Griswold
Department of Entomology, California Academy of
Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Dr., San Francisco, CA
94118, USA.
egarcia@calacademy.orgThe spider family Plectreuridae Simon, 1893 is one of
the oldest of spider lineages, suggested to have radiated as
early as the Middle Jurassic (~165 MYA). These eight-eyed
haplogyne spiders represent a small relictual group that
typically live semi-sedentary lives with an affiliation for xeric
habitats across the New World. The family is considerably
well represented in the fossil record with four fossils to date
and comprises 30 extant species (and one subspecies)
that are split into two genera:
Plectreurys
Simon, 1893 and
Kibramoa
Chamberlin, 1924. Since Gertsch’s revision of
the family (1958), plectreurids have not been meticulously
studied (despite a handful of species descriptions) and much
regarding plectreurid evolution remains an enigma. Since
plectreurids are an old group, with ample time to accumu-
late diversity, it is likely that the family’s diversity is grossly
underestimated. In order to address questions of diversity,
the purpose of this study is to assess the extent of diversity
in three widespread species (
K. guapa, K. suprenans
, and
K.
madrona
) of
Kibramoa
that are described from the Califor-
nia Floristic Province (CFP)—a biodiversity hotspot.
Keywords: systematics, California Floristic Province,
haplogynes, living fossil
Student - oral presentation
Investigating species boundaries in a
trapdoor spider complex using anchored
hybrid enrichment
*Nicole L. Garrison
1
, Chris A. Hamilton
2
, Vera Opatova
1
,
Jason E. Bond
1
1
Auburn University, 101 Rouse Life Sciences, AL
36849, USA;
2
Florida Museum of Natural History,
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
ngarrison19@gmail.comHigh-throughput sequencing methods increasingly
provide high quality, low cost markers for investigat-
ing speciation patterns in non-model systems. We use
anchored hybrid enrichment (AE), a high throughput
genomic sequence capture method, to recover over 400
phylogenetically informative loci for a trapdoor spider
species complex (Aptostichus atomarius complex, CA).
Independent species discovery methods–multi-locus,
population level phylogenetic analyses and SNP cluster-
ing methods–were combined with validation approaches
(BPP, BFD) to evaluate alternative species delimitation
hypotheses in this morphologically homogeneous group of