The rise and diversification of spidroins in the deep-time evolution of spiders

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  The rise and diversification of spidroins in the deep-time evolution of spiders Summary The evolutionary success of spiders is often attributed to their stunning ability to produce and utilize silk, but the potential link between the molecular and phenotypic basis of silk production and spider diversification is seldom tested in a robust dated phylogenetic framework. Here, we provide a macroevolutionary context for testing hypotheses by reconstructing and dating the spider tree of life using genomic and transcriptomic data. We searched exhaustively for members of the spider silk protein (spidroin) gene family from omics data and identified them in an iterative phylogenetic pipeline. Four distinct new types of spidroins with atypical sequence characteristics are discovered to be widespread in true spiders with the potential to affect silk properties, as inferred by our phylogenetic generalized linear mixed model and phylogenetic generalized least squares analyses. Combining our ro...

Arachnology VOL. 20 · NO. 3 | November 2025

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Arachnology VOL. 20 · NO. 3 | November 2025

New Articles from the Arachnology

New species and first record of the genus Titanidiops Simon, 1903 from Sudan (Araneae: Idiopidae)

Timur B. Bariev; Danniella Sherwood;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.1

A remarkable new genus of ant-like Theridiidae (Araneae) from the canopy in Central Africa

Rudy Jocqué; Herman Vanuytven;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.10

A new rainforest canopy species of the pseudoscorpion genus Trichernes (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae) from New Caledonia

Mark S. Harvey; Eric Guilbert;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.11

Transfer of Araneus panchganiensis Tikader & Bal, 1981 to Neoscona (Araneae: Araneidae)

Kongarampilly Rajendran Shilpa; Kuzhuppilly Varghese Anis; Ambalaparambil Vasu Sudhikumar;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.12

Taxonomic remarks on some American spiders: Corinnidae, Ctenidae, Salticidae, and Thomisidae (Araneae)

María-Luisa Jiménez; David Chamé-Vázquez; María Anel Reyes-Zazueta; Amaury Yael Almaraz Llamas; Joel Jair Alcántar-Valenzuela; Carlos Palacios-Cardiel;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.13

A new species of Reversopelma Schmidt, 2001 from Ecuador, and two new tarantula genera from Argentina, Bolivia, and Colombia (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

Pedro Peñaherrera-R; Jamie Mora-Bolaños; Ariel Guerrero-Campoverde; Roberto J. León-E.; Duniesky Ríos-Tamayo; Ray Gabriel; Danniella Sherwood; Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.14

Two new species of wolf spiders from South Africa belonging to the genera Proevippa Purcell, 1903 and Pterartoria Purcell, 1903 (Araneae: Lycosidae)

Tony Russell-Smith; Dmitri Logunov;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.15

Industrial melanism in spiders: a reappraisal

Geoff S. Oxford;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.16

Contributions to the knowledge of trapdoor spiders: descriptions of Iberesia melici sp. nov., the female of Nemesia dukagjinica Geci & Sherwood, 2025, and new distribution records of some other European nemesiids (Araneae: Nemesiidae)

Donard Geci; Danniella Sherwood;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.17

Novel insights on Psalmopoeinae Samm & Schmidt, 2010 (Araneae: Theraphosidae): new species, taxonomic restorations, and reversal of four erroneous synonymies

Pedro Peñaherrera-R; Roberto J. León-E.; Ariel Guerrero-Campoverde; José Manuel Falcón-Reibán; Jaime Daniel Fajardo-Torres; Patricio Picón-Rentería; Ray Gabriel; Danniella Sherwood; Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.18

A new species of Bermejoa Gabriel, Sherwood & Pérez-Miles, 2023 from Peru (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

Luis E. Portela; Duniesky Ríos-Tamayo;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.2

A new genus for an old species: redescription of Nemastomella monchiquensis (Opiliones: Nemastomatidae) and evolutionary insights from cheliceral morphology

Hay Wijnhoven; Jochen Martens; Ibai Ugarte-Zabaleta; Carlos Prieto;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.3

Contrasting reproductive investment strategies in two species of range-expanding, synanthropic spiders in the Netherlands

Zachary A. Cline; Jeffrey A. Harvey;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.4

Diet of the harvestman Leiobunum formosum (Opiliones, Sclerosomatidae)

Samantha Vos; Victor R. Townsend; Maynard H. Schaus; Sara A. Wiltshire; Jacob D. Hofstetter;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.5

A new species of the pseudoscorpion genus Sironcus (Pseudoscorpiones: Ideoroncidae) from Malaysia

Mark S. Harvey;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.6

A review of the jumping spider genus Macaroeris Wunderlich, 1992 (Arachnida: Araneae: Salticidae: Dendryphantini)

Dmitri V. Logunov; Michael Schäfer;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.7

The spiders of Great Britain and Ireland: 2025 checklist

Alastair H. Lavery;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.8

Description of three new species of Anapistula Gertsch, 1941 from caves, with new distribution records for Brazilian Symphytognatha carstica Brescovit, Álvares & Lopes, 2004 (Araneae: Symphytognathidae)

Antonio D. Brescovit; Igor Cizauskas;

Arachnology. 20 (3), (14 November 2025). doi:10.13156/arac.2024.20.3.9