Dissecting a Geographical Colourful Tapestry: Phylogeography of the Colour Polymorphic Spider Gasteracantha cancriformis

Abstract

Species with large distributions provide unique opportunities to test how geography has influenced biotic diversification. In this work, we aimed to explore the effect of geographic barriers on the distribution of the phenotypic and genetic variation of a spider species that is widespread in continental and insular America. We obtained an alignment of the mitochondrial locus Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) for 408 individuals across the geographic range of Gasteracantha cancriformis. We used phylogenetics, population genetics, and morphology to explore the genetic and phenotypic variation of this species. We found five genetically differentiated and geographically structured populations. Three of them are distributed in continental America, separated by the Andes mountains, and two are in the Caribbean and Galapagos Islands. Some of these geographic clades shared haplotypes between them, which may be a consequence of dispersal. We detected at least 20 phenotypes of G. cancriformis, some of which were exclusive to a geographic region, while others occurred in multiple regions. We did not observe well-defined morphological differences across male genitalia. This evidence suggests that G. cancriformis is a widespread species with high phenotypic variation that should be explored in more depth.