Dr Andre Wanderley Do Prado1, Dr Volker Framenau1, Dr Cor Vink2, Dr Luis Piacentini3, Dr Renner Baptista4

1Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia, Australia, 2Department of Pest Management and Conservation, Facutly of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Lincoln University, New Zealand, 3CONICET, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia, Argentina, 4Laboratório de Diversidade de Aracnideos, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Biography:

Andre is experienced in evolutionary biology and systematics, with emphasis on spiders (Araneae). Currently working as a Research Associate at Murdoch University, investigating the evolutionary history of Artoria, a megadiverse genus of small wolf spiders.

Abstract:

Artoria is the most speciose genus of wolf spiders in Australia, comprising 68 described species and possibly another 120-150 undescribed species. Like in most other genera in Artoriinae, Artoria includes small spiders measuring less than 10 mm in body length, typically found in leaf litter and near streams or other bodies of water and mainly in the Bassian and Torresian bioregions of Australia. The genus has also been recorded in Asia, the Pacific, New Zealand, and Africa. Among Artoriinae representatives, Artoria is the only genus that lacks a recent comprehensive review. Morphological and molecular evidence suggests that the genus is paraphyletic, although Artoria has never been the focus of a phylogenetic study. The present study will provide a review of Australian and New Zealand species of Artoria and investigate the evolutionary history of the genus based on molecular and morphological data. Therefore, this research will elucidate the delimitation of Artoria and its relationships with other genera within Artoriinae, such as Artoriopsis, Anoteropsis, Notocosa, Syroloma, Lycosella, Navira, and Lobizon. Our first regional revision (Western Australia) identified 20 species in the state, 13 of which new to science. Currently, we are revising the species from Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, and our preliminary results suggests a further 52 undescribed species with 37 described species across these states.