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In Situ Hybridization Techniques for Paraffin-Embedded Adult Coral Samples

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Published on: August 31, 2018

Reconstructing web evolution and spider diversification in the molecular era.

Todd A Blackledge¹, Nikolaj Scharff, Jonathan A Coddington

¹Department of Biology and Integrated Bioscience Program, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-3908, USA. blackledge@uakron.edu

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|March 18, 2009

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Spider silk innovations, particularly the orb web, evolved once. Abandoning costly silk led to major spider diversification and ecological dominance.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Zoology
Biochemistry

Background:

Spiders exhibit remarkable evolutionary diversification, largely driven by innovations in silk production and usage.
They uniquely synthesize diverse silks for various life functions, notably for prey-catching webs.

Purpose of the Study:

To construct a comprehensive spider phylogeny integrating molecular, morphological, and behavioral data.
To test the hypothesis of a single evolutionary origin for the spider orb web.
To examine the relationship between spider diversification, web architecture, and silk utilization.

Main Methods:

Phylogenetic analysis combining molecular and traditional character data.
Comparative analysis of web architectures and silk types across spider clades.
Correlation analysis between silk evolution and diversification events.

Main Results:

Strong evidence supports a single origin of the orb web, indicating a significant shift in capture silk spinning.
Abandonment of expensive cribellate silk correlates with two major spider diversification events.
Replacement of cribellate silk with aqueous silk glue may explain the greater diversity in modern orb-weavers (Araneoidea).
In the RTA clade, loss of cribellate silk and webs is linked to over 90% of species richness, enabling aerial or web-less predation.

Conclusions:

The evolution of silk and web-building behaviors played a crucial role in the evolutionary success and ecological dominance of spiders.
Repeated loss or transformation of orb webs, alongside shifts in silk use, significantly influenced spider diversification patterns.