Big Spider, Big Genome: Chromosome-level genome of a North American tarantula (Aphonopelma marxi) and comparative genomics across 300 million years of spider evolution

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  Image Credit: WikiCommons Big Spider, Big Genome: Chromosome-level genome of a North American tarantula (Aphonopelma marxi) and comparative genomics across 300 million years of spider evolution Abstract The comparison of chromosome-level genomes allows biologists to investigate new axes of organismal evolution. Spiders comprise a significant proportion of known arachnid diversity, with many complex morphologies and unique natural histories, yet comparative genomics in spiders has been limited due to the number of available genomes. We present a de novo chromosomal reference genome of a mature male tarantula, Aphonopelma marxi, and comparatively examine spider genome evolution across the Order Araneae. Using PacBio HiFi and Hi-C sequencing, the final 6.5 Gb assembly consists of 17 autosomes, 1 X chromosome, and 127 unplaced scaffolds, with an N50 of 370 Mb and Arachnida (odb10; 2934 genes) BUSCO of 96.7%. By comparing 20 additional spider genomes from 15 families, we find mygalomo...

Hidden treasures of the Caribbean: two new genera and one new species of Lesser Antillean ischnocoline spiders (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

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Hidden treasures of the Caribbean: two new genera and one new species of Lesser Antillean ischnocoline spiders (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

Abstract
The new genus Caribothele gen. nov. is described to house its type species Caribothele culebrae (Petrunkevitch, 1929) comb. nov., from Puerto Rico, transferred from Holothele Karsch, 1879. Another new genus, Encantarana gen. nov. is described to house Encantarana hamiltoni gen. et sp. nov. based on both sexes, also from Puerto Rico, and is presently monotypic. Four other species misplaced in Holothele Karsch, 1879 are transferred to Caribothele gen. nov., creating the following new combinations: Caribothele denticu-lata (Franganillo, 1930) comb. nov., Caribothele maddeni (Esposito & Agnarsson, 2014) comb. nov., Caribothele shoemakeri (Petrunkevitch, 1926) comb. nov., and Caribothele sulfurensis (Maréchal, 2005) comb. nov.

Acknowledgement

My deepest and most heartfelt gratitude goes to Danni Sherwood for her generosity in sharing this and other forthcoming publications prior to their official release. Her consistent support and willingness to provide early access to such valuable materials are sincerely appreciated and continue to make a meaningful difference in advancing this work.

Sherwood, D., Gabriel, R., Peñaherrera-R., P., Rollard, C., Leguin, E.-A. & Privet, K. 2025: Hidden treasures of the Caribbean: two new genera and one new species of Lesser Antillean ischnocoline spiders (Araneae: Theraphosidae). - Natura Somogyienis 46: 99-116.