Abstract
A matrix of 117 morphological characters scored for 77 terminal taxa was subjected to parsimony analysis under equal and implied weighting schemes and to Bayesian inference in order to test the relationships in and between Stephanopis and Sidymella species, as well as its implications for the systematics of the subfamily Stephanopinae. A sensitivity test was performed to evaluate nodal stability. Our results indicate the polyphyletism of both genera and the topologies obtained allowed the proposition of the following taxonomic acts: The “altifrons clade” is the only group considered as Stephanopis (stricto sensu), with species restricted to the Australian region; most species from the Neotropical region, hitherto attributed to this genus, formed the well-supported “pentacantha clade”, while two of them, restricted to Central America, were recovered as the “championi clade”. The latter shows significative evidences for the revalidation of Paratobias gen. rev.; the “cambridgei clade” emerged with I. punctata nested within, having all its component species transferred to Isala. None of the Sidymella species with Australian distribution seems to be part of this genus, which occurs in fact only in the Neotropical region and is closely related to Coenypha. This latter has an increment of three species transferred from Stephanopis. Aside from the “lucida clade”, which is considered here as Sidymella (stricto sensu), three other groups and a single species emerged apart from this genus: the “hirsuta clade”, “trapezia clade”, “angularis clade” and Si. rubrosignata. Morphological evidences seem to justify the proposition of all these groups as new genera.
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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).
Change history
05 February 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00483-2
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all dear colleagues and curators for the specimens provided for this study. Special thanks are given to Dr. Barbara Baehr, Dr. Stuart Longhorn and Dr. Cristian J. Grismado for the examinations and photograph parts of the type material deposited in European institutions. The first author is especially thankful to Dr. Robert Raven and Dr. Graham Milledge, who granted the material, space and total access to the collection of the Queensland Museum and Australian Museum, respectively. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions that improved the quality of the present work.
Funding
This study was financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brasil (CAPES), Finance Code 001.
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The original online version of this article was revised: The legends of Figs. 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20 and 21 were shown in the wrong order. The image of Fig. 2 belongs to Fig. 3 and vice versa. These has been corrected.
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Machado, M., Teixeira, R.A. Phylogenetic relationships in Stephanopinae: systematics of Stephanopis and Sidymella based on morphological characters (Araneae: Thomisidae). Org Divers Evol 21, 281–313 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-020-00472-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-020-00472-x