| The family Halonoproctidae belongs to the Class Arachnida,the Order Araneae,the Suborder Opisthothelae,the Infraorder Mygalomorphae.They thus occupy an important position in the spider life of tree.All halonoproctid spiders live in underground burrows,and are poor dispersers,but they are widely distributed over the world.Their present-day diversity and distribution may be associated closely with global geological events and the drift of tectonic plates.This makes them a good model organism for studying of evolutionary biology and biogeography.Therefore,it is of great interest for systematic research of this family.However,few studies have been conducted on the systematics and phylogeny of the family,with focus on traditional taxonomy.A few molecular phylogenetical studies have mainly concentrated on the family level or above,but no studies have been performed to investigate genus-level or species-level phylogeny within.Moreover,systematics and phylogeny of halonoproctid spiders in China remain unexplored.Halonoproctids are distributed in North and South America,the Mediterranean region,the South of Africa,South-East Asia,East Asia and Austrasia.It contains 87 species belonging to six genera.The family is currently divided into two subfamilies:Ummidiinae Ortiz,2007 and Halonoproctinae Pocock,1901.Ummidiinae includes three genera,Conothele Thorell,1878,Latouchia Pocock,1901,and Ummidia Thorell,1875.Halonoproctinae includes Bothriocyrtum Simon,1891,Cyclocosmia Ausserer,1871,and Hebestatis Simon,1903.Until now,there are 57 named species within four genera known from China,including Bothriocyrtum,Conothele,Cyclocosmia and Latouchia.Halonoproctid spiders construct underground burrows which are lined with silk and opened to the surface with a trapdoor.The trapdoor is usually covered with a layer of soil,leaf litter,and/or moss,which blend well in the surrounding environment.Moreover,females have a long life span and live in the burrows all their life,whereas males have a shorter life span than females and they leave the burrow immediately after the adult moult to search for females,and die in a few months after maturation.This is why few males have been recorded and described in literature.Morphology-based taxonomy mainly relies on the genital morphology of males and females.However,halonoproctids usually have simple genitalia and females show considerable intraspecific variation in genitalia,whereas male have less interspecific variation in palpal organs.In addition,since halonoproctids are highly concealed and males can only survive for several months after maturity,it is difficult to collect adult males in nature by direct searching and by excavating burrows.Given these limitations,it is hard to carry out an objective and accurate species delimitation for this group barely based on morphology.Nowadays,species delimitation methods based on molecular data have become popular,and have been successfully applied to many spider groups.Nevertheless,research on this aspect of Halonoproctidae is currently almost lacking.Accordingly,in this thesis I have two-fold objectives:(1)Through targeted and extensive sampling to obtain a large number of halonoproctid samples,using molecular data I reconstructed genus-level phylogeny of Halonoproctidae with a focus on two genera that are distributed in China,Conothele and Latouchia,and tested monophyly of both Conothele and Latouchia;and(2)I carried out integrative taxonomy which integrated molecular-based species delimitation approaches with traditional morphological taxonomy to diagnose and describe species of Conothele and Latouchia in China.I collected a total of 228 specimens from 57 localities in five provinces(Hainan,Hunan,Tibet,Yunnan and Zhejiang)in China.They belong to three genera,Conothele(45 specimens from Hainan,Tibet and Zhejiang),Latouchia(180 specimens from Hainan)and Cyclocosmia(3 specimens from Hunan and Yunnan).Since there were only three specimens of Cyclocosmia,I mainly focused on Conothele and Latouchia in this thesis.I successfully amplified and sequenced four gene fragments,including three nuclear genes(28S rRNA(28S),Histone 3(H3),Elongation factor-1 gamma(EF1-?))and one mitochondrial gene(cytochrome c oxidase subunit I(COI)).I used maximum likelihood(ML)and Bayesian inference analyses(BI)to reconstruct the phylogeny of Conothele and Latouchia,respectively.Results from phylogenetic analyses strongly support the monophyly of Conothele and Latouchia.I then used four molecular-based species delimitation methods to delimit species limits of Conothele and Latouchia.These include two genetic-based methods,DNA barcoding gap and ABGD(automatic barcode gap discovery),and two tree-based methods,P ID(Liberal)and BPP(Bayesian Phylogenetics and Phylogeography).Results from molecular-based species delimitation approaches are consistent with morphology-based species delimitation.I found that halonoproctids in China show high species diversity.Upon the consensus results,29 new species of Halonoproctidae are diagnosed and described,including four new species of Conothele(C.baisha sp.n.,C.baoting sp.n.,C.jinggangshan sp.n.and C.linzhi sp.n.)and 25 new species of Latouchia(L.bacillaris sp.n.,L.baomeiling sp.n.,L.baoqian sp.n.,L.bawangensis sp.n.,L.caohui sp.n.,L.changan sp.n.,L.chaocan sp.n.,L.dibao sp.n.,L.fenghuang sp.n.,L.heshang sp.n.,L.jianfengensis sp.n.,L.lanjiu sp.n.,L.limushan sp.n.,L.lingshui sp.n.,L.maogan sp.n.,L.nanya sp.n.,L.puguang sp.n.,L.s hi long sp.n.,L.shiyi sp.n.,L.tudatus sp.n.,L.wangxia sp.n.,L.wuzhiensis sp.n.,L.yajia sp.n.,L.yalin sp.n.and L.zhizai sp.n.).This is the first study of systematics and integrative taxonomy of the family Halonoproctidae in China using molecular and morphological data.This study not only unveils the species diversity and phylogeny of Chinese Halonoproctidae,but also provides evidence that integrative taxonomy is effective to delimit species limits for halonoproctid spiders,the taxa with considerable intraspecific morphological variation and lacking diagnostic morphological characters. |
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