Morphological and phylogenetic atlas of the orb-weaving spider family Tetragnathidae (Araneae: Araneoidea)

Abstract

The present atlas documents the morphology of representative species of 22 tetragnathid genera, with emphasis on nontetragnathines. It includes approximately 960 scanning electron micrographs, morphological drawings and web photographs. The 213 characters used in the phylogenetic analyses are described and illustrated. We discuss the optimal cladograms obtained by the analysis of the morphological and behavioural data, and compare our results to a recent hypothesis of tetragnathid phylogenetic relationships that combined similar data with multigene DNA sequences. Based on the cladistic hypothesis that results from the total evidence analysis, we study the evolution of six morphological character systems within Tetragnathidae: spinneret spigots, respiratory structures, trichobothria, chelicerae, and male and female genitalia. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London.