Generic-level phylogeny and species delimination in the paleoendemic spider genus hypochilus (Aranea, hypochilidae) based on sequence capture of ultraconserved elements
Hypochilus is a relictual, Nearctic, paleo-endemic spider often described as a “living fossil”. Commonly known as lampshade spiders, these animals are Short Range Endemics restricted to microhabitats consisting of shaded, mesic, rocky outcrops in three montane geographic regions. Together with the monotypic Ectatostica, these genera constitute the depauperate family Hypochilidae. Previous work has had difficulty in reconstructing the interspecific relationships within Hypochilus and revealed extreme interspecific genetic structure. Previous work has also led to the suspicion of cryptic species within two species of the genus, Hypochilus pococki and Hypochilus petrunkevitchi. This thesis tested the utility of some commonly used delimitation methods on SRE taxa with high levels of genetic structure with the objective of delimiting cryptic species in the genus, as well as reconstructing the generic tree. This work definitively reconstructed the Hypochilus tree using Ectatosticta as an outgroup, as well as found cryptic species within the Californian taxon H. petrunkevitchi in need of taxonomic recognition. It further demonstrated the need for new approaches to species delimitation with challenging taxonomic systems such as SRE taxa.
