Disconnecting trapdoors: Phylogenomic analyses reveal evolutionary contrasts in trapdoor spiders with intercontinental distribution (Idiopidae, Idiopinae).

Among Mygalomorphae spiders, the family Idiopidae is the second most diverse, consisting exclusively of trapdoor spiders and is divided into three subfamilies: Arbanitinae, Genysinae, and Idiopinae. The subfamily Idiopinae, distinguished mainly by anterior lateral eyes that project forward, includes 153 species across seven genera, distributed throughout South America, Africa, and parts of Asia. Within this subfamily, the genus Idiops includes the greatest diversity and is the only genus recorded in both the New and Old Worlds.

Species delimitation with limited sampling: An example from rare trapdoor spider genus Cyclocosmia (Mygalomorphae, Halonoproctidae).

The outcome of species delimitation depends on many factors, including conceptual framework, study design, data availability, methodology employed and subjective decision making. Obtaining sufficient taxon sampling in endangered or rare taxa might be difficult, particularly when non-lethal tissue collection cannot be utilized. The need to avoid overexploitation of the natural populations may thus limit methodological framework available for downstream data analyses and bias the results.

Integrative Taxonomy Approach Reveals Cryptic Diversity within the Phoretic Pseudoscorpion Genus (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae).

Pseudoscorpions represent an ancient, but homogeneous group of arachnids. The genus comprises several morphologically similar species with wide and overlapping distributions. We implemented an integrative approach combining molecular barcoding (), with cytogenetic and morphological analyses in order to assess species boundaries in European populations.

Phylogenomic analysis, reclassification, and evolution of South American nemesioid burrowing mygalomorph spiders.

The family Nemesiidae was once among the most species-rich of mygalomorph spider families. However, over the past few decades both morphological and molecular studies focusing on mygalomorph phylogeny have recovered the group as paraphyletic. Hence, the systematics of the family Nemesiidae has more recently been controversial, with numerous changes at the family-group level and the recognition of the supra-familial clade Nemesioidina.