Register      Login
Invertebrate Systematics Invertebrate Systematics Society
Systematics, phylogeny and biogeography
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Phylogenetic placement and revision of the tropical Asian crab spider genus Pagida (Araneae : Thomisidae)

Suresh P. Benjamin A B C and Crisenthiya I. Clayton A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Institute of Fundamental Studies, Hantana Road, Kandy, Sri Lanka.

B Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany.

C Corresponding author. Email: suresh.benjamin@gmail.com

Invertebrate Systematics 30(4) 353-369 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS15054
Submitted: 6 November 2015  Accepted: 21 March 2016   Published: 31 August 2016

Abstract

The tropical Asian crab spider genus Pagida Simon, 1895 has remained taxonomically unrevised and has never been subjected to phylogenetic evaluation. The present study is designed to investigate the monophyly of the genus, its placement within Thomisidae and review all species. Our cladistic analysis, based on 78 morphological characters from 34 taxa (30 ingroup and four outgroup), demonstrates the monophyly of the genus and shows that Pagida is sister to Stiphropus Gerstäcker, 1873 within Thomisidae. The monophyly of Pagida and Pagida + Stiphropus is well supported. Pagida salticiformis (O. P.-Cambridge, 1883), the type species of Pagida, is redescribed from a series of specimens collected recently from its type locality, Sri Lanka. Pagida pseudorchestes is redescribed based on nine males and seven females. A new species, Pagida minuta, sp. nov., is described, based on four males and one female.

Additional keywords: biodiversity, conservation, endemics, India, Palaephatus, taxonomy.


References

Benjamin, S. P. (2011). Phylogenetics and comparative morphology of crab spiders (Araneae: Dionycha, Thomisidae). Zootaxa 3080, 1–108.

Benjamin, S. P., Dimitrov, D., Hormiga, G., and Gillespie, R. G. (2008). Family ties: molecular phylogeny of crab spiders (Araneae: Thomisidae). Cladistics 24, 708–722.
Family ties: molecular phylogeny of crab spiders (Araneae: Thomisidae).Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Bremer, K. (1994). Branch support and tree stability. Cladistics 10, 295–304.
Branch support and tree stability.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Gerstäcker, A. (1873). Gliederthiere. In ‘Barron C. C. von der Decken’s Reisen in Ost Afrika in 1859–61’. Leipzig, 542 pp.

Goloboff, P. A., Farris, J. S., Kallersjo, M., Oxelman, B., Ramırez, M. J., and Szumik, C. A. (2003). Improvements to resampling measures of group support. Cladistics 19, 324–332.
Improvements to resampling measures of group support.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Goloboff, P. A., Farris, J. S., and Nixon, K. (2008). TNT: a free program for phylogenetic analysis. Cladistics 24, 774–786.
TNT: a free program for phylogenetic analysis.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Griswold, C. E., Ramírez, M. J., Coddington, J. A., and Platnick, N. I. (2005). Atlas of phylogenetic data for entelegyne spiders (Araneae: Araneomorphae: Entelegynae) with comments of their phylogeny. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 56, 1–324.

Heiling, A. M., Chittka, L., Cheng, K., and Herberstein, M. E. (2005). Colouration in crab spiders: substrate choice and prey attraction. The Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 1785–1792.
Colouration in crab spiders: substrate choice and prey attraction.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 15879060PubMed |

Lawrence, R. F. (1952). New spiders from the eastern half of South Africa. Piertermaritzburg 12, 183–226.

Lehtinen, P. T. (2007). New family status for the crab spider group Stiphropodinae. In ‘17th International Congress of Arachnology’. (Ed. R. P. da Rocha.) p. 48. (São Pedro, São Paulo, Brazil.)

Maddison, W. P., and Maddison, D. R. (2001). ‘MacClade: Analysis of Phylogeny and Character Evolution.’ (Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.)

Maddison, W. P., and Maddison, D. R. (2009). Mesquite: a modular system for evolutionary analysis. Version 2.72. Available at http://mesquiteproject.org

Morse, D. H. (2007). ‘Predator Upon a Flower: Life History and Fitness in a Crab Spider.’ (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.)

Nixon, K. C. (2002). WinClada. Published by the author, Ithaca, New York. Available from: http://www.cladistics.com/ about_winc.htm (accessed 5 June 2010).

P.-Cambridge, O. (1883). On some new genera and species of spiders. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 51, 352–365.
On some new genera and species of spiders.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Platnick, N. I. (1976). Notes on the spider genus Doliomalus (Araneae: Gnaphosidae). Revue de Zoologie Africaine 90, 975–983.

Simon, E. (1895). ‘Histoire Naturelle des Araignées.’ (Roret, Paris.) 1, 761–1084.

Théry, M. (2007). Colours of background reflected light and of the prey’s eye affect adaptive coloration in female crab spiders. Animal Behaviour 73, 797–804.
Colours of background reflected light and of the prey’s eye affect adaptive coloration in female crab spiders.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Thorell, T. (1890). Diagnoses Aranearum aliquot novarum in Indo-Malesia inventarum. Annali del Museo civico di storia naturale di Genova 2, 132–172.

World Spider Catalog (2015). World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Version 16.5. Available from: http://wsc.nmbe.ch (accessed on 11 September 2015).