A morphological and combined phylogenetic analysis of pirate spiders (Araneae, Mimetidae): evolutionary relationships, taxonomy and character evolution

Abstract

Mimetidae is one of the three families within Araneoidea whose members do not spin foraging webs, but are unique in displaying a complex prey-capture behaviour known as aggressive mimicry. Mimetids are distributed worldwide and are most diverse in the tropics of Central and South America. Here we provide a comprehensive phylogeny of pirate spiders (Mimetidae) based on analyses that combine morphological and multigene nucleotide sequence data. We scored 147 morphological characters for 55 mimetids and 16 outgroup taxa and combined it in a total-evidence approach with the sequence data of Benavides et al. (2017) which included two nuclear ribosomal genes, 18S rRNA and 28S rRNA, two mitochondrial ribosomal genes, 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA, the nuclear protein-encoding gene histone H3 and the mitochondrial protein-encoding gene cytochromec oxidase subunitI. We analysed the combined dataset using parsimony, maximum-likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. Our results support the monophyly of Mimetidae and of the genera Gelanor, Ero, Anansi and Australomimetus. Mimetidae is sister to Arkyidae + Tetragnathidae. Mimetus as currently circumscribed is not monophyletic under any analytical approach used, although several lineages within the genus are consistently found in our analyses. We describe, illustrate and discuss the morphological synapomorphies that support the main clades of Mimetidae. The following nomenclatural changes are proposed: Ermetus koreanus (Paik, 1967), the sole species of the genus, is transferred to Ero C.L. Koch, 1836 and thus Ermetus Ponomarev, 2008 is a junior synonym of Ero C.L. Koch, 1836 (new synonymy) and Ero koreana Paik, 1967 becomes a revalidated combination. Phobetinus sagittifer Simon, 1895, the type species of the genus, is transferred to Mimetus Hentz, 1832 and thus Phobetinus Simon, 1895 is a junior synonym of Mimetus Hentz, 1832 (new synonymy), which results in two changes: Mimetus sagittifer (Simon, 1895), new combination and Mimetus investus (Simon, 1909), new combination. Reo latro Brignoli, 1979, the type species of the genus, is transferred to Mimetus and thus Reo Brignoli, 1979 is a junior synonym of Mimetus (new synonymy), which results in the following two changes: Mimetus latro Brignoli, 1979, new combination and Mimetus eutypus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935, revalidated combination. Arochoides integrans Mello-Leitão, 1935 is transferred to Tetragnathidae (new family placement). The type specimen of Arochoides integrans, the only species in this genus, is a subadult male of Azilia (Tetragnathidae), most likely Azilia histrio Simon, 1895. Arochoides is a junior synonym of Azilia (new synonymy). http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:90F6B3DA-232B-428C-BF38-AEA8953D7685