Notes on Indian wolf spiders: IV. Transfer of species previously included in the genera Crocodilosa Caporiacco, 1947 and Geolycosa Montgomery, 1904 (Araneae: Lycosidae)

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  Notes on Indian wolf spiders: IV. Transfer of species previously included in the genera Crocodilosa Caporiacco, 1947 and Geolycosa Montgomery, 1904 (Araneae: Lycosidae) The enigmatic Crocodilosa Caporiacco, 1947 sensu lato currently consists of five nominal species distributed in Africa and Asia (World Spider Catalog 2026). It was established for C. kittenbergeri Caporiacco, 1947, with a superficial generic diagnosis relying only on somatic features such as length of eye rows, leg spination and relative leg lengths (Caporiacco 1947). Roewer (1955), following Caporiacco’s (1947) generic diagnosis, drastically increased the number of Crocodilosa species by transferring several species from other lycosid genera, but most of these subsequently added species were later reassigned to their appropriate genera (World Spider Catalog 2026), highlighting the need for a re-examination of the type species and remaining congeners to clarify the validity of Crocodilosa. At present, the genus ha...

Neglected no longer: Phylogenomic resolution of higher-level relationships in Solifugae

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Neglected no longer: Phylogenomic resolution of higher-level relationships in Solifugae

Summary
Advanced sequencing technologies have expedited resolving higher-level arthropod relationships. Yet, dark branches persist, principally among groups occurring in cryptic habitats. Among chelicerates, Solifugae (“camel spiders”) is the last order lacking a higher-level phylogeny and thus, historically characterized as “neglected [arachnid] cousins”. Though renowned for aggression, remarkable running speed, and xeric adaptation, inferring solifuge relationships has been hindered by inaccessibility of diagnostic morphological characters, whereas molecular investigations have been limited to one of 12 recognized families. Our phylogenomic dataset via capture of ultraconserved elements sampling all extant families recovered a well-resolved phylogeny, with two distinct groups of New World taxa nested within a broader Paleotropical radiation. Divergence times using fossil calibrations inferred Solifugae radiated by the Permian, and most families diverged pre-Paleogene-Cretaceous extinction, largely driven by continental breakup. We establish Boreosolifugae new suborder uniting five Laurasian families, and Australosolifugae new suborder uniting seven Gondwanan families using morphological and biogeographic signal.

Siddharth S. Kulkarni,Hugh G. Steiner,Erika L. Garcia,Hernán Iuri,R. Ryan Jones,Jesús A. Ballesteros,Guilherme Gainett,Matthew R. Graham,Danilo Harms,Robin Lyle,Andrés A. Ojanguren-Affilastro,Carlos E. Santibañez-López,Gustavo Silva de Miranda et al.

Publication: 

iScience (PDF)

Publisher: 

Elsevier

Date: 

Available online 19 August 2023