A proposal and review of the spider family Synotaxidae (Araneae, Araneoidea) : with notes on theridiid interrelationships. Bulletin of the AMNH ; no. 193

116 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-116)."The previously monotypic subfamily Physogleninae Petrunkevitch is redefined to include Physoglenes Simon--containing P. vivesi Simon and three new species from Chile--and three new genera: Meringa, containing nine new species from New Zealand; Tupua, containing four new species from Tasmania; and Paratupua, containing one new species from Victoria. The physoglenine genera are united by unique modifications of the male pedicel and anterior abdominal region. The new subfamily Pahorinae is established for five new genera from New Zealand: Pahora (containing nine new species), Pahoroides (containing two new species), Wairua (containing two new species), Nomaua (containing five new species and N. crinifrons (Urquhart), transferred from the linyphiid genus Bolyphantes), and Runga (containing five new species). The pahorine genera are united by a carapace-abdomen stridulatory system, secretory pores on the male pars cephalica, and a deeply excavated paracymbial area on the male palp. Three other genera seem closely related to physoglenines and pahorines: Mangua, new genus, containing 13 new species and M. forsteri (Brignoli), transferred from Linyphia, all from New Zealand; Chileotaxus, new genus, containing one new species from Chile; and the Neotropical genus Synotaxus Simon. These spiders have been widely separated in some past classifications; Physoglenes has been variously considered a leptonetid, pholcid, theridiid, or araneoid incertae sedis, whereas the other previously described taxa have generally been considered theridiids or linyphiids. All 12 genera are united by the presence of a small, basally situated and dorsally excavated paracymbium, a longitudinal incision of the retrolateral cymbial margin, thickened (and sometimes spiniform) dorsal macrosetae on the male palpal femur, patella, and/or tibia, and greatly elongated, spineless legs, with the first pair much the longest and all femora basally thickened. The known web forms are diverse, including an irregular sheet (Mangua and at least some physoglenines), an inverted bowl (pahorines), and a latticelike structure (Synotaxus). The absence of a comb on tarsi IV and widened aggregate spigots on the posterior lateral spinnerets, and the presence of a basal paracymbium, indicate that these genera do not belong to the Theridiidae, and the male palpi lack the distinct embolic division including a radix typical of the Linyphiidae. The oldest family-group name available for the assemblage is Synotaxidae, based on Synotaxeae Simon. Synotaxidae is hypothesized to be the sister group of Nesticidae plus Theridiidae. Wunderlich's synonymy of the families Hadrotarsidae and Theridiidae appears to be justified by paracymbial morphology; two possibly monophyletic groups can be recognized among the genera that are currently considered valid members of those families. The genera Anatea Berland, Audifia Keyserling, Dipoena Thorell, Dipoenata Wunderlich, Euryopis Menge, Gmogola Keyserling, Guaraniella Baert, Hadrotarsus Thorell, Lasaeola Simon, and Yoroa Baert are apparently united by a suite of characters (a dorsoventrally flattened female palpal claw, shortened chelicerae with elongated fangs, specialized ventral setae on tarsus I, a series of parallel ridges on the medial surface of the anterior lateral spinnerets, and four rather than two spermathecae) and may all be specialized predators of ants; the earliest available name for the assemblage is Hadrotarsinae Thorell. At least the genera Anelosimus Simon, Chrosiothes Simon, Chrysso O.P.-Cambridge, Coleosoma O.P.-Cambridge, Helvibis Keyserling, Nesticodes Archer, Rugathodes Archer, Spintharus Hentz, Tekellina Levi, Theridula Emerton, Thwaitesia O.P.-Cambridge, and Thymoites Keyserling are apparently united by a distinctive paracymbial hood. The name Spintharinae Simon is available for this assemblage; if Spintharinae is monophyletic, the genera Achaearanea Strand and Anelosimus, as currently construed, may be polyphyletic assemblages that require relimitation"--P. 3

Global Genome Biodiversity Network:saving a blueprint of the Tree of Life - a botanical perspective

Background Genomic research depends upon access to DNA or tissue collected and preserved according to high-quality standards. At present, the collections in most natural history museums do not sufficiently address these standards, making them often hard or impossible to use for whole-genome sequencing or transcriptomics. In response to these challenges, natural history museums, herbaria, botanical gardens and other stakeholders have started to build high-quality biodiversity biobanks. Unfortunately, information about these collections remains fragmented, scattered and largely inaccessible. Without a central registry or even an overview of relevant institutions, it is difficult and time-consuming to locate the needed samples. Scope The Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) was created to fill this vacuum by establishing a one-stop access point for locating samples meeting quality standards for genome-scale applications, while complying with national and international legislations and conventions. Increased accessibility to genomic samples will further genomic research and development, conserve genetic resources, help train the next generation of genome researchers and raise the visibility of biodiversity collections. Additionally, the availability of a data-sharing platform will facilitate identification of gaps in the collections, thereby empowering targeted sampling efforts, increasing the breadth and depth of preservation of genetic diversity. The GGBN is rapidly growing and currently has 41 members. The GGBN covers all branches of the Tree of Life, except humans, but here the focus is on a pilot project with emphasis on ‘harvesting’ the Tree of Life for vascular plant taxa to enable genome-level studies. Conclusion While current efforts are centred on getting the existing samples of all GGBN members online, a pilot project, GGI-Gardens, has been launched as proof of concept. Over the next 6 years GGI-Gardens aims to add to the GGBN high-quality genetic material from at least one species from each of the approx. 460 vascular plant families and one species from half of the approx. 15 000 vascular plant genera

Report of the 14th Genomic Standards Consortium Meeting, Oxford, UK, September 17-21, 2012

© The Author(s), 2014. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Standards in Genomic Sciences 9 (2014): 1236-1250, doi:10.4056/sigs.4319681.This report summarizes the proceedings of the 14th workshop of the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) held at the University of Oxford in September 2012. The workshop’s primary goal was to work towards the launch of the Genomic Observatories (GOs) Network under the GSC. For the first time, it brought together potential GOs sites, GSC members, and a range of interested partner organizations. It thus represented the first meeting of the GOs Network (GOs1). Key outcomes include the formation of a core group of “champions” ready to take the GOs Network forward, as well as the formation of working groups. The workshop also served as the first meeting of a wide range of participants in the Ocean Sampling Day (OSD) initiative, a first GOs action. Three projects with complementary interests – COST Action ES1103, MG4U and Micro B3 – organized joint sessions at the workshop. A two-day GSC Hackathon followed the main three days of meetings.This work was supported in part by the US Na-tional Science Foundation through the research coordination network award RCN4GSC, DBI-0840989 and in part by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and travel grants of COST Action ES1103. The stakeholder session was supported by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 /2007-2013) under grant agreement no 266055, and the Marine Ge-nomics for Users EU FP7 project (Coordination and support action, call FP7-KBBE-2010-4) grant no. 266055. We thank Eppendorf and Biomatters Ltd. for their sponsorship of the meeting

Global Patterns of Guild Composition and Functional Diversity of Spiders

The objectives of this work are: (1) to define spider guilds for all extant families worldwide; (2) test if guilds defined at family level are good surrogates of species guilds; (3) compare the taxonomic and guild composition of spider assemblages from different parts of the world; (4) compare the taxonomic and functional diversity of spider assemblages and; (5) relate functional diversity with habitat structure. Data on foraging strategy, prey range, vertical stratification and circadian activity was collected for 108 families. Spider guilds were defined by hierarchical clustering. We searched for inconsistencies between family guild placement and the known guild of each species. Richness and abundance per guild before and after correcting guild placement were compared, as were the proportions of each guild and family between all possible pairs of sites. Functional diversity per site was calculated based on hierarchical clustering. Eight guilds were discriminated: (1) sensing, (2) sheet, (3) space, and (4) orb web weavers; (5) specialists; (6) ambush, (7) ground, and (8) other hunters. Sixteen percent of the species richness corresponding to 11% of all captured individuals was incorrectly attributed to a guild by family surrogacy; however, the correlation of uncorrected vs. corrected guilds was invariably high. The correlation of guild richness or abundances was generally higher than the correlation of family richness or abundances. Functional diversity was not always higher in the tropics than in temperate regions. Families may potentially serve as ecological surrogates for species. Different families may present similar roles in the ecosystems, with replacement of some taxa by other within the same guild. Spiders in tropical regions seem to have higher redundancy of functional roles and/or finer resource partitioning than in temperate regions. Although species and family diversity were higher in the tropics, functional diversity seems to be also influenced by altitude and habitat structure

Discovery of the Largest Orbweaving Spider Species: The Evolution of Gigantism in Nephila

More than 41,000 spider species are known with about 400-500 added each year, but for some well-known groups, such as the giant golden orbweavers, Nephila, the last valid described species dates from the 19(th) century. Nephila are renowned for being the largest web-spinning spiders, making the largest orb webs, and are model organisms for the study of extreme sexual size dimorphism (SSD) and sexual biology. Here, we report on the discovery of a new, giant Nephila species from Africa and Madagascar, and review size evolution and SSD in Nephilidae.We formally describe N. komaci sp. nov., the largest web spinning species known, and place the species in phylogenetic context to reconstruct the evolution of mean size (via squared change parsimony). We then test female and male mean size correlation using phylogenetically independent contrasts, and simulate nephilid body size evolution using Monte Carlo statistics.Nephila females increased in size almost monotonically to establish a mostly African clade of true giants. In contrast, Nephila male size is effectively decoupled and hovers around values roughly one fifth of female size. Although N. komaci females are the largest Nephila yet discovered, the males are also large and thus their SSD is not exceptional

Why sequence all eukaryotes?

Life on Earth has evolved from initial simplicity to the astounding complexity we experience today. Bacteria and archaea have largely excelled in metabolic diversification, but eukaryotes additionally display abundant morphological innovation. How have these innovations come about and what constraints are there on the origins of novelty and the continuing maintenance of biodiversity on Earth? The history of life and the code for the working parts of cells and systems are written in the genome. The Earth BioGenome Project has proposed that the genomes of all extant, named eukaryotes-about 2 million species-should be sequenced to high quality to produce a digital library of life on Earth, beginning with strategic phylogenetic, ecological, and high-impact priorities. Here we discuss why we should sequence all eukaryotic species, not just a representative few scattered across the many branches of the tree of life. We suggest that many questions of evolutionary and ecological significance will only be addressable when whole-genome data representing divergences at all of the branchings in the tree of life or all species in natural ecosystems are available. We envisage that a genomic tree of life will foster understanding of the ongoing processes of speciation, adaptation, and organismal dependencies within entire ecosystems. These explorations will resolve long-standing problems in phylogenetics, evolution, ecology, conservation, agriculture, bioindustry, and medicine

Earth BioGenome Project: Sequencing life for the future of life.

Increasing our understanding of Earth's biodiversity and responsibly stewarding its resources are among the most crucial scientific and social challenges of the new millennium. These challenges require fundamental new knowledge of the organization, evolution, functions, and interactions among millions of the planet's organisms. Herein, we present a perspective on the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), a moonshot for biology that aims to sequence, catalog, and characterize the genomes of all of Earth's eukaryotic biodiversity over a period of 10 years. The outcomes of the EBP will inform a broad range of major issues facing humanity, such as the impact of climate change on biodiversity, the conservation of endangered species and ecosystems, and the preservation and enhancement of ecosystem services. We describe hurdles that the project faces, including data-sharing policies that ensure a permanent, freely available resource for future scientific discovery while respecting access and benefit sharing guidelines of the Nagoya Protocol. We also describe scientific and organizational challenges in executing such an ambitious project, and the structure proposed to achieve the project's goals. The far-reaching potential benefits of creating an open digital repository of genomic information for life on Earth can be realized only by a coordinated international effort

Multilateral benefit-sharing from digital sequence information will support both science and biodiversity conservation

Open access to sequence data is a cornerstone of biology and biodiversity research, but has created tension under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Policy decisions could compromise research and development, unless a practical multilateral solution is implemented.This workwas funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) WiLDSI 031B0862 (A.H.S., J.O., and J.F.) and Horizon Europe EVA-GLOBAL 871029 (A.H.S.). I.K.M. was supported by the National Center for Biotechnology Information of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health