Microarachnids enlightening macro-patterns: New advances on the evolution and biogeography of New World schizomids

Monday, November 11, 2024

11:30 AM – 11:42 AM MST

Location: Phoenix Convention Center, 223, PCC

Presenting Author(s)

GW

Grant Wass

Undergraduate Student
Palomar College
San Diego, California

Co-Author(s)

RM

Rodrigo Monjaraz-Ruedas

San Diego State University Biodiversity Museum
San Diego, California
MH

Marshal Hedin

San Diego State University Biodiversity Museum
San Diego, California

Schizomida, or short-tailed whipscorpions, are cryptic predatory microarachnids with limited dispersal abilities which encompass over two hundred species with a largely pantropical distribution. Due to their limited dispersal abilities and restricted distributions, schizomids are excellent candidates for analyzing biogeographic patterns. However, current Schizomida biogeographic analyses lack fossil schizomid representation and erroneously place Baalrog sbordonii (Brignoli) as sister to all Hubbardiid schizomids. Current phylogenetic analyses have also consistently recovered the southwest American genus Hubbardia as sister to the remaining members of the family Hubbardiidae, diverging around 204 mya. As such, the inclusion of more species of Hubbardia in biogeographic analyses is a crucial step to fully understand patterns of divergence within the family Hubbardiidae. In this project, we combined fossil records and DNA sequences from specimens from the family Protoschizomidae, representatives of the genus Hubbardia, and a broader sampling of Caribbean and Mexican Hubbardiids to re-evaluate the divergence times and biogeography of Schizomida. Our results reveal an earlier divergence time for the family Hubbardiidae, as well as new diversification times calculated for Protoschizomidae, Hubbardia, Surazomus and Mexican schizomids. Leveraging our increased sampling, we aim to provide an alternate biogeographic hypothesis for the order Schizomida.