Systematics of the spider genera Mallos and Mexitilia (Arameae: Dictynidae)

This systematic study recognizes 15 species of the genus Mallos Pickard-Cambridge and three species of the genus Mexitilia Lehtinen. Three species of Mallos and one species of Mexitilia are newly described. Two species are placed in synonymy and two species are transferred to Mallos. The males of two Mallos species are described for the first time. A cladistic analysis based on 22 morphological produced a cladogram that supports the monophyly of Mallos and the validity of Mexitilia. For five species of Mallos and one species of Mexitilia mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences were analyzed by restriction digest. The seventeen resulting restriction sites produced a cladogram that agreed with the one based on the morphology of these six species. When morphological and molecular characters were combined they produced a single tree that was identical to that based on molecular data alone. These molecular and morphological characters present the same picture of Mallos and Mexitilia phylogeny.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biology

Department dc:contributor.department

Biology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1995

Author dc:creator

• Bond, Jason E.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Opell, Brent D.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Hilu, Khidir W.
• West, David A.

• phylogeny

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-07112009-040550

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/43698