Discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.

<h4>Background</h4>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-sp...

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Autores principales:	Matjaz Kuntner, Jonathan A Coddington
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2009
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/943fe76bbec946039281e883ff546587
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:943fe76bbec946039281e883ff5465872021-11-25T06:28:37ZDiscovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0007516https://doaj.org/article/943fe76bbec946039281e883ff5465872009-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/19844575/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>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.<h4>Methodology</h4>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.<h4>Conclusions</h4>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.Matjaz KuntnerJonathan A CoddingtonPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 4, Iss 10, p e7516 (2009)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Matjaz Kuntner Jonathan A Coddington Discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.
description	<h4>Background</h4>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.<h4>Methodology</h4>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.<h4>Conclusions</h4>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.
format	article
author	Matjaz Kuntner Jonathan A Coddington
author_facet	Matjaz Kuntner Jonathan A Coddington
author_sort	Matjaz Kuntner
title	Discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.
title_short	Discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.
title_full	Discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.
title_fullStr	Discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.
title_full_unstemmed	Discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.
title_sort	discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in nephila.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2009
url	https://doaj.org/article/943fe76bbec946039281e883ff546587
work_keys_str_mv	AT matjazkuntner discoveryofthelargestorbweavingspiderspeciestheevolutionofgigantisminnephila AT jonathanacoddington discoveryofthelargestorbweavingspiderspeciestheevolutionofgigantisminnephila
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Discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.

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