TY - JOUR
T1 - Description and evolutionary biogeography of the first Miocene jumping spider (Aranaea: Salticidae) from a southern continent
AU - Richarson, BJ
AU - MR, McCurry
AU - Frese, Michael
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank N. McGrath and L. and G. Gale for their generosity and access to the site, M.J. Hensley for assistance with the excavations, F. Brink and C.E. Frigo for technical assistance and D.E. Hill for advice on salticid internal morphology. We acknowledge the scientific and technical assistance of Microscopy Australia, especially from the Centre for Advanced Microscopy, Australian National University (jointly funded by the Australian National University and the Australian Federal Government). Furthermore, we thank CSIRO’s Australian National Insect Collection for access to state-of-the-art imaging equipment. This research was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Projects funding scheme (project LP210301049) and through a donation from the Etheridge family descendants. We also wish to acknowledge the Wiradjuri people, the traditional owners of the land where the fossil site is located.
Publisher Copyright:
© Commonwealth of Australia, Oxford University Press, 2023.
PY - 2024/4/1
Y1 - 2024/4/1
N2 - Examination of a fossil from a Miocene Konservat-Lagerstätte (c. 11–16 Mya) from Australia shows it to be an astioid jumping spider that is here described as Simaetha sp. indet. Fossilization in the iron oxide–hydroxide mineral goethite led to a high-fidelity preservation of not only the exterior, but of the pharyngeal plate and a neuropile in the cephalothorax. The discovery of the fossil supports the molecular-based hypothesis that the Late Oligocene/Early Miocene radiation of astioid genera occurred in Australasia. Modern Asian genera then would be the result of northward migrations from Australia rather than a movement in the other direction. Biogeographically, the Miocene Simaetha fits within the predicted bioclimatic distribution of the genus today, though the bioclimatic requirements of the fossil species are now found in eastern Queensland rather than in central New South Wales. Simaetha, it seems has retained its original bioclimatic profile for 15 Myr, even though climatic and ecological conditions in Australia have changed significantly. The fossil record now shows the independent evolution of modern genera during the Early Miocene in at least five different salticid lineages on two continents. These salticid radiations occurred at a time of planet-wide, rapid climatic and ecological change.
AB - Examination of a fossil from a Miocene Konservat-Lagerstätte (c. 11–16 Mya) from Australia shows it to be an astioid jumping spider that is here described as Simaetha sp. indet. Fossilization in the iron oxide–hydroxide mineral goethite led to a high-fidelity preservation of not only the exterior, but of the pharyngeal plate and a neuropile in the cephalothorax. The discovery of the fossil supports the molecular-based hypothesis that the Late Oligocene/Early Miocene radiation of astioid genera occurred in Australasia. Modern Asian genera then would be the result of northward migrations from Australia rather than a movement in the other direction. Biogeographically, the Miocene Simaetha fits within the predicted bioclimatic distribution of the genus today, though the bioclimatic requirements of the fossil species are now found in eastern Queensland rather than in central New South Wales. Simaetha, it seems has retained its original bioclimatic profile for 15 Myr, even though climatic and ecological conditions in Australia have changed significantly. The fossil record now shows the independent evolution of modern genera during the Early Miocene in at least five different salticid lineages on two continents. These salticid radiations occurred at a time of planet-wide, rapid climatic and ecological change.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85189243712&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad105
DO - 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad105
M3 - Article
SN - 0024-4082
VL - 200
SP - 1013
EP - 1025
JO - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
JF - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
IS - 4
ER -