Tailor’s drawer no more: a reappraisal of the spider family Dictynidae O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1871 sensu lato

Abstract

The mesh-web weaver family Dictynidae s.l. has been labelled a ‘tailor’s drawer’ family because it contains taxonomically unorganized and often evolutionarily distant species. Previous molecular phylogenetic studies using limited taxonomic sampling and legacy target genes involving representatives of the family have been consistent in: (i) exhibiting low branch support values and (ii) the recovery of genera and species currently classified as dictynids outside of Dictynidae. The genera within the family and the relationships among dictynid genera have never been rigorously tested using genomic-scale data. Here, we use exemplar dictynid species from the most currently recognized dictynid genera and ultraconserved elements (UCEs) recovered in silico from low-coverage, whole-genome sequencing plus Sanger data to resolve the phylogenetic placement and relationships of genera within the family Dictynidae s.l. The resulting phylogeny, along with morphological evidence, supports several taxonomic updates to the group: Argyronetidae stat. reinst., Lathyidae fam. n., and Dictynidae s.s. are included in Dictynoidea. Argyronetidae stat. reinst. include the genera Altella, Arctella, Argenna, Argyroneta, Chaerea, Devade, Hackmania, Iviella, Mizaga, Paratheuma, Saltonia, Tricholathys. The family Lathyidae fam. n. is proposed to include the genera Afrolathys gen. n. (Af. madagascariensis sp. n. and Af. tanzanica sp. n.), Analtella stat. reinst. (Analtella affinis comb. n., Analtella dentichelis comb. n., Analtella narbonensis comb. n., Analtella pygmaea comb. n., and Analtella teideensis comb. n.), Andronova gen. n. (Andronova alberta comb. n., Andronova annulata comb. n., Andronova. arabs comb. n., Andronova cambridgei comb. n., Andronova dihamata comb. n., Andronova lehtineni comb. n., Andronova maculosa comb. n., Andronova spasskyi comb. n., Andronova subalberta comb. n., Andronova subviridis comb. n., and Andronova sylvania comb. n.), Asialathys gen. n. (As. deltoidea comb. n., As. fibulata comb. n., As. huangyangjieensis comb. n., As. spiralis comb. n., and As. zhanfengi comb. n.), Bannaella (B. lhasana, B. sexoculata comb. n., B. sinuata, and B. tibialis), Denticulathys gen. n. (D. amaataaidoo sp. n.), Langlibaitiao (Langlibaitiao chishuiensis, Langlibaitiao inaffectus, Langlibaitiao insulanus comb. n., and Langlibaitiao zhangshun), Lathys s.s. (Lathys bin, Lathys borealis, Lathysbrevitibialis, Lathyscoralynae, Lathysdixiana, Lathysfoxi, Lathysheterophthalma, Lathyshumilis, Lathyshumilis meridionalis, Lathyslepida, Lathysmantarota, Lathys sexpustulata, Lathys spiralis, and Lathys subhumilis), Scotolathys s.s. (S. delicatula stat. reinst., S. immaculata stat. reinst., S. maculina stat. reinst., S. pallida stat. reinst., and S. simplex), Tolokonniella gen. n. Tolokonniella ankaraensis comb. n., Tolokonniella mallorcensis comb. n., Tolokonniella maura comb. n., Tolokonniella stigmatisata comb. n., and Tolokonniella truncata comb. n.). Finally, Dictynidae s.s. are strongly supported to include the genera Adenodictyna, Ajmonia (Aj. changtunesis comb. n.) Anaxibia, Arangina, Archaeodictyna (Archaeodictyna aguasverdes comb. n., Archaeodictyna bispinosa comb. n., Archaeodictyna fuerteventurensis comb. n., and Archaeodictyna lanzarotensis comb. n.), Arethyna gen. n. (Arethyna coloradensis comb. n., Arethynaidahoana comb. n., Arethyna osceola comb. n., Arethyna personata comb. n., Arethyna peon comb. n., Arethyna saltona comb. n., Arethyna secuta comb. n., Arethyna sierra comb. n., Arethyna ubsunurica comb. n., Arethyna volucripes comb. n., and Arethyna volucripes volucripoides comb. n.), Argennina, Atelolathys, Banaidja, Brigittea (B. colona comb. n.), Califorenigma gen. n. (C. linsdalei comb. n.), Callevophthalmus, Dictyna (D. abundans, D. alaskae, D. albicoma, D. albovittata, D. alyceae, D. apacheca, D. arundinacea, D. bostoniensis, D. brevitarsus, D. cafayate, D. chandrai, D. cofete, D. columbiana, D. cronebergi, D. crosbyi, D. dauna, D. ectrapela, D. fluminensis, D. guineensis, D. hamifera, D. kosiorowiczi, D. laeviceps, D. linzhiensis, D. livida, D. marilina, D. moctezuma, D. namulinensis, D. navajoa, D. pictella, D. procerula, D. pusilla, D. quadrispinosa, D. ranchograndei, D. saepei, D. similis, D. simoni, D. sinaloa, D. siniloanensis, D. tarda, D. togata, D. tristis, D. trivirgata, D. tullgreni, D. turbida, D. uncinata, D. uvs, D. vittata, D. vultuosa, and D. yongshun), Dictynomorpha, Emblyna (E. acoreensis, E. aiko, E. altamira, E. ampla, E. angulata, E. annulipes, E. ardea, E. artemisia, E. borealis, E. borealis cavernosa, E. branchi, E. brevidens, E. budarini, E. burjatica, E. callida, E. capens, E. cavata comb. n., E. chitina, E. completa, E. completoides, E. consulta, E. cornupeta, E. coweta, E. crocana, E. decaprini, E. evicta, E. florens, E. formicaria, E. hentzi, E. horta, E. hoya, E. joaquina, E. lina, E. linda, E. manitoba, E. marissa, E. melva, E. nanda, E. oasa, E. palomara, E. pinalia, E. piratica, E. peragrata, E. reticulata, E. roscida, E. saylori, E. scotta, E. seminola, E. shasta, E. shoshonea, E. stulta, E. sublatoides, E. suwanea, and E. zaba), Eriena gen. n. (Er. minuta comb. n. and Er. mora comb. n.), Helenactyna, Khalotyna gen. n. (K. calcarata comb. n.), Kharitonovia, Mallos, Marilynia, Mashimo, Mexitlia, Myanmardictyna, Nigma, Nopalityna gen. n. (N. francisca comb. n., N. jonesae comb. n., N. orbiculata comb. n., N. sublata comb. n., N. suprenans comb. n., and N. uintana comb. n.), Pangunus gen. n. (Pa. kaszabi comb. n., Pa. umai comb. n., and Pa. xizangensis comb. n.), Paradictyna, Penangodyna, Phantyna, (Ph. agressa comb. n. and Ph. formidolosa comb. n.), Purplecorna gen. n. (Pu. gloria comb. n., Pu. guerrerensis comb. n., Pu. incredula comb. n., Pu. lecta comb. n., Pu. meditata comb. n., Pu. miniata comb. n., and Pu. terrestris comb. n.), Rhion, Shango, Shikibutyna gen. n. (Sh. felis comb. n., Sh. follicola comb. n., Sh. guanchae comb. n., Sh. mongolica comb. n., Sh. procerula comb. n., Sh. schmidti comb. n., Sh. szaboi comb. n., Sh. wangi comb. n., Sh. xizangensis comb. n., and Sh. zherikhini comb. n.), Simziella gen. n. (Si. annexa comb. n., Si. cebolla comb. n., Si. dunini comb. n., Si. major comb. n., Si. palmgreni comb. n., Si. paramajor comb. n., Si. sancta comb. n., Si. sotnik comb. n., Si. sylvania comb. n., Si. tridentata comb. n., Si. tucsona comb. n., Si. tyshchenkoi comb. n., Si. tyshchenkoi wrangeliana comb. n., Si. canadas comb. n., and Si. teideensis comb. n.), Spagnius gen. n. (Sp. albopilosa comb. n., Sp. foliacea comb. n., Sp. jacalana comb. n., and Sp. nebraska comb. n.), Sudesna, Tahuantina, Thallumetus, Tivyna (Ti. sonora comb. n.), Tolkienus gen. n. (Tolkienus armatus comb. n., Tolkienus bellans comb. n., Tolkienus bellans hatchi comb. n., Tolkienus estoc sp. n., Tolkienus ottoi comb. n., and Tolkienus longispina comb. n.), and Viridictyna. This study begins to remedy the dearth of systematic knowledge about this incredibly diverse spider group and fills knowledge gaps in the tree of life for little brown spiders.