A comparison of adhesive performance among six cursorial spider species

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  A comparison of adhesive performance among six cursorial spider species Abstract The ability to adhere to surfaces is particularly relevant for cursorial predatory arthropods like hunting spiders, which often traverse relatively complex environments characterized by large variation in substrate properties. Here, we evaluated the adhesive performance of six hunting spider species that are common in eastern temperate North America and lack specialized tarsi for climbing smooth or inclined surfaces [Lycosidae: Pardosa lapidicina Emerton, 1885 and Rabidosa rabida (Walckenaer, 1837); Oxyopidae: Oxyopes salticus Hentz, 1845; Pisauridae: Pisaurina mira (Walckenaer, 1837); Dolomedidae: Dolomedes triton (Walckenaer, 1837), and Dolomedes scriptus Hentz, 1845]. We tested adhesion performance as shear load resistance (g) on a glass plate, and as the angle of failure (°) when the plate was gradually inclined relative to horizontal. Average angle of failure and shear resistance differed among ...

Comparative analysis of mitochondrial genomes from Buthidae (Scorpiones): gene rearrangement and phylogenetic implications

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Comparative analysis of mitochondrial genomes from Buthidae (Scorpiones): gene rearrangement and phylogenetic implications

Abstract

Scorpions, a diverse group of arachnids consisting of over 2,000 valid species, have received limited research attention in terms of their complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes). To increase the taxonomic sampling frequency of species available for study based on mitogenomes, we reconstructed the complete mitogenomes of five scorpions, Androctonus amoreuxi (Audouin, 1826), Hottentotta tamulus (Fabricius, 1798), Leiurus quinquestriatus (Ehrenberg, 1828), Lychas mucronatus (Fabricius, 1798), and ­Teruelius flavopiceus (Kraepelin, 1900) within the family Buthidae. These five mitogenomes had a typical circular structure, with total sizes ranging from 14,504 to 15,083 bp. Nucleotide composition analysis indicated that the sequences were biased toward A and T. The Ka/Ks ratios within 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) were lower than 1, suggesting that they had been subject to purifying selection in Buthidae. Our analyses provide additional evidence on that, in scorpions, the majority of mitogenome rearrangements occurred in tRNAs. Moreover, the genes tRNA-Asp, tRNA-Gln and tRNA-Ile were the hotspots of rearrangement in this order. ­Phylogenetic analyses based on PCGs supported taxonomic relationships in this taxon. Our results might provide useful insights into the gene arrangement features of scorpion mitogenomes and lay the foundation for further studies on the family Buthidae.

Xu W, Zhang G, Xu T, He K, Wang J, Liu Z, Liu H (2025) Comparative analysis of mitochondrial genomes from Buthidae (Scorpiones): gene rearrangement and phylogenetic implications. Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny 83: 3-13. https://doi.org/10.3897/asp.83.e140421