Improving family-level classifications
Named higher taxa, for example genera and families, must be monophyletic to be phylogenetically valid. Ranked taxa above the species...
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- May 3
Island and Rensch’s rules do not apply to Asellus aquaticus
Body size is a trait of fundamental ecological and evolutionary importance that is often different between males and females (sexual ...
- Apr 25
Postdoc on sexual size dimorphism
Where will your career take you after your doctorate? What will you delve into? Are you interested in sexual selection? How can the sexes...
- Feb 16
Evidence for lekking in a new kite spider
Spiders are notoriously solitary and cannibalistic, with instances of colonial or social lifestyles in only about ~0.1% of described...
- Dec 12, 2022
Next-generation biogeography
Historical biogeography is an integrative scientific field critical for testing evolutionary hypotheses pertinent to organismal...
- Dec 6, 2022
7 grand challenges in arachnology
This perspective identifies the grand challenges in arachnid science: 1. Grasp the arachnid species diversity. 2. Standardize arachnid...
- Nov 3, 2022
New scientific journal on arachnids
On 2 November 2022, a new journal was launched titled Frontiers in Arachnid Science (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/arachnid-scienc...
- Sep 2, 2022
New locality of the Zagros blind loach fish
Four obligate cave fish species have been recorded from Zagros in Iran: three from the genus Garra, G. typhlops, G. lorestanensis, and G....
- Aug 23, 2022
Global spread of misinformation on spiders
The spread of misinformation is gaining global attention as it interferes with evidence-based collective responses to (global) problems....
- Jul 17, 2022
New leaf-curling orb-weaving spider genus Leviana
We describe the new Australian orb-weaving spider genus Leviana gen. nov. It includes five species, all known from both sexes:...
- Jun 8, 2022
Genome and silk transcriptome of Darwin's bark spider
Natural silks crafted by spiders comprise some of the most versatile materials known. Spider silks and bioinspired artificial silks might...
- Jun 2, 2022
Male mating strategies to counter sexual conflict in spiders
Sexual conflict occurs when the two sexes have conflicting fitness strategies regarding reproduction. Female sexual cannibalism is an...
- May 17, 2022
DNA from spider webs identifies hundreds of organisms unseen in the environment
Spider webs represent powerful biofilters of environmental DNA with potentially far-reaching implications, report researchers from...
- Apr 25, 2022
Catapulting to safety
In the animal world, various mechanisms allow for extremely fast actions or reactions through storage of energy in elastic structures,...
- Mar 11, 2022
New obligate groundwater species of Asellus (Isopoda) from Iran
With only 43 described stygobionts and only two isopod species the obligate groundwater fauna of Iran, a vast country with over 10% of...
- Jan 31, 2022
Another Origin of Extreme Sexual Size Dimorphism Discovered in Araneid Spiders
Cyphalonotus is a poorly studied, Old World araneid spider genus whose phylogenetic proximity remains unknown due to the paucity of...
- Dec 23, 2021
Improving taxonomy - example from arachnology
We scrutinize spider taxonomy over the last decade, evaluating what type of data were used to delineate species, whether data were made...
- Dec 12, 2021
Jumping spider does not see its own sexually dimorphic red coloration
Examining the role of color in mate choice without testing what colors the study animal is capable of seeing can lead to ill-posed...
- Dec 2, 2021
Biogeography of Long-Jawed Spiders
Dispersal ability can affect levels of gene flow thereby shaping species distributions and richness patterns. We focused on the...
- Nov 18, 2021
Iranian cave beetle diversity, description of two Duvalius species
Through field efforts and morphological examination, we describe two new Duvalius species from caves of Zagros Mts., Iran: the...
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