Discovery of a new intertidal trapdoor spider of the genus Idioctis (Araneae: Barychelidae), with a generic range extension to Taiwan

Most spiders are exclusively terrestrial with only some groups venturing into aquatic habitats, and only a handful of representatives colonizing the marine intertidal zone. Here, we describe a new intertidal trapdoor spider species, Idioctis parilarilao sp. nov., from southern Taiwan and Green Islan...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of arachnology Vol. 51; no. 2; pp. 238 - 248
Main Authors Yu, Kuang-Ping, Lo, Ying-Yuan, Cheng, Ren-Chung, Raven, Robert J., Kuntner, Matjaž
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published American Arachnological Society 06.10.2023
The American Arachnological Society
Subjects
Analysis
biogeographic hypothesis
Coastal ecosystems
dispersal
East Asia
Ecology
marine intertidal
Mygalomorphae
Research institutes
Zoology
Southeast Asia
Singapore
Slovenia
France
Australia
Taiwan
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Summary:Most spiders are exclusively terrestrial with only some groups venturing into aquatic habitats, and only a handful of representatives colonizing the marine intertidal zone. Here, we describe a new intertidal trapdoor spider species, Idioctis parilarilao sp. nov., from southern Taiwan and Green Island (Lutao). The original DNA barcode enables species delimitation between different populations from Taiwan and the morphologically closest species, Idioctis xmas, from Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. These analyses reveal that all populations from Taiwan, including Green Island, are conspecific, and are distinct from Idioctis xmas. Given the lack of representation of other species in public databases, our COI gene tree should be seen as preliminary, but it does support the monophyly of the genus Idioctis. As the genus was not previously known from East Asia, our discovery vastly extends the distribution range of Idioctis and the family Barychelidae. Given the tectonic and volcanic specifics of the history of Taiwan and Green Island, and the direction of the known oceanic currents, we provide a preliminary explanation of the biogeographic and diversification history of intertidal spiders in the region.
ISSN:0161-8202
1937-2396
DOI:10.1636/JoA-S-22-020