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Systematics, phylogeny and biogeography
RESEARCH ARTICLE

The first phylogenetic analysis of Palpigradi (Arachnida) – the most enigmatic arthropod order

Gonzalo Giribet A K , Erin McIntyre A , Erhard Christian B , Luis Espinasa C , Rodrigo L. Ferreira D , Óscar F. Francke E , Mark S. Harvey F , Marco Isaia G , Ĺubomír Kováč H , Lynn McCutchen I , Maysa F. V. R. Souza D and Maja Zagmajster J
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Museum of Comparative Zoology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

B Institut für Zoologie, Universität für Bodenkultur, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33, 1180 Wien, Austria.

C School of Science, Marist College, 3399 North Road, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA.

D Centro de Estudos em Biologia Subterrânea, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, MG. CEP 37200-000, Brazil.

E Colección Nacional de Arácnidos, Instituto de Biologia, UNAM, Apartado Postal 70-153, C. P. 04510, Mexico, D. F., Mexico.

F Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Locked Bag 49, Welshpool DC, WA 6986, Australia.

G Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Torino, Italy.

H Department of Zoology, Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, P. J. Šafárik University, Moyzesova 11, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia.

I Department of Biology, Kilgore College, 1100 Broadway, Kilgore, TX 75662, USA.

J SubBioLab, Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Večna pot 111, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.

K Corresponding author. Email: ggiribet@g.harvard.edu

Invertebrate Systematics 28(4) 350-360 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS13057
Submitted: 9 November 2013  Accepted: 1 February 2014   Published: 12 September 2014

Abstract

Palpigradi are a poorly understood group of delicate arachnids, often found in caves or other subterranean habitats. Concomitantly, they have been neglected from a phylogenetic point of view. Here we present the first molecular phylogeny of palpigrades based on specimens collected in different subterranean habitats, both endogean (soil) and hypogean (caves), from Australia, Africa, Europe, South America and North America. Analyses of two nuclear ribosomal genes and COI under an array of methods and homology schemes found monophyly of Palpigradi, Eukoeneniidae and a division of Eukoeneniidae into four main clades, three of which include samples from multiple continents. This supports either ancient vicariance or long-range dispersal, two alternatives we cannot distinguish with the data at hand. In addition, we show that our results are robust to homology scheme and analytical method, encouraging further use of the markers employed in this study to continue drawing a broader picture of palpigrade relationships.

Additional keywords: biogeography, micro-whip scorpions, palpigrades, speleobiology.


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