PhD Arthur Decae 2010 - Ghent Ecology - Universiteit Gent

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(Coddington 2005) and therefore lags behind other developments in biological knowledge. The rewards of studying mygalomorphs however will be in keeping with the efforts and a much improved vista on the evolutionary history of a major animal group can thus be obtained. Outline and objectives The Mediterranean mygalomorph fauna, as it is presently known, contains representatives of seven different spider families, eleven genera and approximately 120 species (see Chapter 8 general conclusions). Current knowledge of Mediterranean Mygalomorphae largely rests on old and often incoherent information that has accumulated over the past 200 years. However all families and genera need thorough taxonomical revision before deeper biological insight can be developed. This elementary though necessary work is beyond the scope of this thesis. However two genera − Ummidia Thorell 1875 and Cyrtocarenum Ausserer 1871 − have been fully revised on all material available (Chapters 6 & 7) and the complex and diverse genus Nemesia Audouin 1826 has been revised for local geographic regions (the Balearic Islands in Chapter 2 and Portugal in Chapter 3). To structure future research on the Mediterranean Nemesiidae a genus level revision was carried out (Chapter 4) resulting in the splitting-off of a new genus (Iberesia <strong>Decae</strong> & Cardoso 2005) from traditional Nemesia stock, and the establishment of two subgenera (Pronemesia and Holonemesia) within Nemesia (Chapter 5). Within both Pronemesia and Holonemesia several distinct species-groups are recognized and discussed (Chapter 5). Work on the remaining mygalomorph genera occurring in the Mediterranean Region −Atypus, Brachythele, Chaetopelma, Cteniza, Cyrtauchenius, Ischnocolus, Macrothele and Idops− is restricted to descriptions of their species diversity and Mediterranean distributions. The probable regions of origin for all these genera and their affinities to related genera outside the Mediterranean are discussed in Chapter 8. The central object of study is the Mediterranean mygalomorph spider fauna. To provide an informative backdrop for understanding the arachnological information contained in this work the history and biological importance of the Mediterranean Region as an area of high biodiversity will be described below separate from an exposé on mygalomorph spiders. The general background information on Mygalomorphae and their presumed sister-group the Liphistiomorphae is intended to shed a new and original light on spider phylogeny and spider evolution that departs from conventional arachnological views. The Mediterranean Region Why study the Mediterranean Obviously there are many very good answers to this question depending on whatever your line of interest is. One very good reason is that, for people, the Mediterranean is a very pleasant place to be. This is not only evidenced by the huge success of modern mass tourism in the region, it is also evidenced by early Homo erectus visitors coming straight from Africa. H. erectus settled in the Mediterranean at least half a million years ago (Dennel & Roebroeks 1994, Turner 1999) and since that early period mankind has never left the beautiful places that surround the bluest of all seas. Within the Mediterranean Region humans developed their incredible success as a biological species. They started off as small tribes equipped with stones and sticks looking for whatever nature would provide, but in the benign environment of the Mediterranean they became farmers, citizens, soldiers, empire builders, discoverers of the world and of the universe. For the rise of human civilization the Mediterranean certainly is a ‘hotspot’.
Recently the Mediterranean has acquired another qualification for being a hotspot. Within the field of biological conservation the Mediterranean is proclaimed one of the world’s hotspots of biodiversity (Meyers et.al. 2000). This qualification is used by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in order to focus human attention on the impoverishing effects on nature of unbound exploitation of the environment. The Mediterranean, as a source of natural wealth and beauty, is of special significance because of its unique evolutionary history that makes it one of the richest biological regions outside the tropics (Naveh 2007). Moreover the Mediterranean flora and fauna contains a very high proportion of endemic species, species that only occur in the Mediterranean, which gives the region the status of being of critical importance for nature conservation 6 . Present knowledge of Mediterranean biodiversity however is based on only a very thin slice of the local flora and fauna. It is mainly focused on vascular plants, vertebrates and very few invertebrate groups 7 . Very little information is available for the bulk of smaller animals and plants that actually build the world’s biodiversity. This means that, from a biodiversity point of view, there is much to discover in and around the Mediterranean, providing numerous outstandingly good reasons to study the region. A first question coming-up from the biodiversity perspective would be; where does it come from Why is the Mediterranean so rich in endemic and other species of plants and animals To answer that question we will have to go far back in time, long before the first human settlements in the region, to the birth of the Mediterranean itself and its subsequent history. To do that, we will have to turn to geology and geography and we may start with a map of the world. The map of the world, as we all know it (Fig. 1), is only a reflection of the current coastlines and the distribution of land and water over the surface of the planet. Since a number of scientific discoveries and realizations, settling in human conscience over the past 250 years 8 , we now know that the map of the world is changing continuously and has changed dramatically over millions of years of geological time. The main features of geography, such as oceans, seas, continents and mountain ranges have not always been where we see them today, but they have come and gone in different configurations. This shifting of continents and oceans has had major effects on the evolution of plant- and animal species. Evolutionary processes have broadly followed the dynamics in the earth’s crust to produce the regional florae and faunae of the different continents, including that of the Mediterranean. In connection to the here presented studies of Mediterranean mygalomorph spiders this idea of related shifts in geography and faunal composition led to asking three fundamental questions: (1) what is the origin of the Mediterranean, (2) why does it have such a high species diversity, and (3) how did it get its mygalomorph spider fauna Fig. 1 Familiar map of the World showing existing coastlines and the distribution of land and water over the earth’s surface. Source: Google maps of the world. 6 For actual numbers see www.biodiversity/hotspots.org/... 7 See IUCN, Red List on: www.iucn.org/redlist/ 8 Discoveries of (1) ‘deep time’ (Hutton 1788, Lyell 1830-1833), (2) evolution by natural selection (Darwin 1859), (3) continental drift (Wegener 1916), (4) seafloor spreading (Hess 1954, 1960).
Page 1 and 2: Diversity and distribution of mygal
Page 3 and 4: Voor Jean-Pierre MAELFAIT Ik heb je
Page 5 and 6: Contents (page numbers and running
Page 7 and 8: Chapter 1 General introduction. Art
Page 9: diversity (Penney et. al. 2003) all
Page 13 and 14: 2. The African-Arabic Continent Aro
Page 15 and 16: Mediterranean. Recently a very dive
Page 17 and 18: The funnel-web spiders of the famil
Page 19 and 20: Coyle (1981) also negates the commo
Page 21 and 22: Chapter 2 Trapdoor spiders of the g
Page 23 and 24: The questions of whether these spec
Page 25 and 26: Genus Nemesia Audouin, 1826 Nemesia
Page 27 and 28: parts as in N. santeugenia (Fig. 46
Page 29 and 30: 1.01-1.08, more than twice as wide
Page 31 and 32: and femora; all metatarsi and tibia
Page 33 and 34: The "teeth" on the edge of the door
Page 35 and 36: Fig. 33-39: Nemesia randa sp. n., f
Page 37 and 38: santeulalia), the broken POP in the
Page 39 and 40: urrow runs almost vertically into t
Page 41 and 42: Variation (n= 6): Adult females sma
Page 43 and 44: Figs. 54-60 Nemesia santeulalia sp.
Page 45 and 46: Figs. 61-67: Nemesia ibiza sp. n.,
Page 47 and 48: Behavior: Some spiders were found t
Page 49 and 50: Figs 79-82 Trapdoors of Majorcan Ne
Page 51 and 52: urrow by N. santeugenia. Based on t
Page 53 and 54: Abstract The occurrence of the trap
Page 55 and 56: Distribution of species. Although o
Page 57 and 58: Patellar spine formulae. PSPvar (n=
Page 59 and 60: Patellar spine formulae. PSP [p=0-0
Page 61 and 62:
PMS reduced digitiform. PLS spigots
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Fig. 45 with Blasco 1986 p.346 Fig.
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the northern-most parts of the coun
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also in Catalonia (type locality ea
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Figs. 1-
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25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
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49 50 51 52 53 54 Figs 49-54 Estima
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Abstract A new genus, Iberesia, is
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median spinnerets (PMS) and consequ
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Carapace: pattern indistinct (Fig.
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Iberesia castillana (Frade & Bacela
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Bacelar 1931 based on their study o
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Chapter 5 Sub-generic diversity and
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precondition for extracting valuabl
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Results MDS analysis of full data-s
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Brachythele & Raveniola Holonemesia
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Holonemesia Simon 1914 (Figs. 3, 5,
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Fig. 6 Cladogram of Holonemesia ind
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Fig. 12 Geographic distribution of
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Raven & Schwendinger 1995, Iberesia
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Character List 1. All characters ar
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29 Nemesia carminans 0000100 001010
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47 Nemesia sp.capistrano 1000000 11
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Fig. 19 Strict consensus cladogram
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Fig. 21 Strict consensus cladogram
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Abstract. The presence and origin o
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Material & Methods The material stu
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Ummidia algarve new species Figs. 2
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spines with the exception of one di
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Tar Met Tib Pat Fem Total Palp 2.9
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Variation. Total sizes (BL) in the
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Discussion Simon (1903 pp. 887-888)
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Acknowledgements This study would n
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Abstract The genus Cyrtocarenum Aus
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Doleschall 1871 from Sardinia and o
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Figs.4-7: Methods of measurements.
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Figs. 8-15: 8-9 Right palp tibia, d
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Basal segment dark reddish brown. S
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Measurements: CL=8.1; CW=7.9; SL=6.
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syntopically (sample in the Sencken
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Chapter 8 General Conclusions. Rewo
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Material and Methods In order to ev
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genera are classified in the subfam
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Knowledge of possible Saharan and s
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Summary All chapters contained in t
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dieren er een onderkomen gevonden w
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Literature Ager D.V. 1980. The Geol
Page 162 and 163:
Decae A. E. 1983. A preliminary rev
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Hu J. L. & A. H. Li. 1987. The spid
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Platnick N.I. 1976. Drifting Spider
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Wiehle H.1960. Der Embolus des män
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PhD Arthur Decae 2010 - Ghent Ecology - Universiteit Gent

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