Biogeography and Evolution of the Araneae: A Synthetic Approach

Abstract

Various methods are used to study the evolution and biogeography of the Araneae through time. Two new fossil spider species were described from Miocene Dominican amber and French Cretaceous amber. A preliminary biogeographic analysis was performed on the former in order to elucidate the biogeographic origins of the genus to which it belongs. Further, ecological niche modeling, a biogeographic technique used to delineate the set of tolerances and limits in multidimensional space that define where a species is potentially able to maintain populations, was undertaken on the brown recluse (Loxosceles reclusa) spider for extant distributions and potential future distributions given climate change. A methodological analysis addressing how error within species occurrence points influences model quality within ecological niche modeling was conducted. Results indicated that studies of lower spatial resolution are valid, if enough data are utilized; this has implications for using ecological niche modeling in the fossil record.