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...

Three new species of the genus Pseudopoda Jäger, 2000 (Araneae, Sparassidae, Heteropodinae) from China

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Three new species of the genus Pseudopoda Jäger, 2000 (Araneae, Sparassidae, Heteropodinae) from China

Abstract

Three new species of the Huntsman spider genus Pseudopoda Jäger, 2000 (Araneae, Sparassidae) from China are described: P. chengkouensis Zhang, Wang, Liu & Hu, sp. nov. (male, female; Chongqing Municipality, China), P. liyihangi Zhang, Wang, Liu & Hu, sp. nov. (male, female; Shaanxi Province, China) and P. maolanensis Zhang, Wang, Liu & Hu, sp. nov. (male, female; Guizhou Province, China). Photos, diagnoses, and detailed descriptions of the three species are provided.

Zhang H, Cao F, Wang L-Y, Liu J, Hu C (2026) Three new species of the genus Pseudopoda Jäger, 2000 (Araneae, Sparassidae, Heteropodinae) from China. ZooKeys 1292: 141-157. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1292.196539