9th June 2023

Confidant Classes

Competitors' very first choice

Home | Edu NEWS | The evolutionary history of a spider family

The evolutionary history of a spider family

Around 55 million years ago, when the Indian subcontinent collided with Asia, many plants and animals migrated from India to other parts of Asia. Now, studying the evolutionary history of a spider family, researchers have attempted to map the dispersal event from India to the islands of Southeast Asia 55-38 million years ago.

  • The team from the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted extensive field studies in Tibet, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and genetic studies were conducted on more than 100 species of spiders in worldwide.
  • Based on the climate and the current distribution of these spiders, they were concentrated in 12 regions, including South and Central America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Sumatra, Fiji and Borneo.

Common ancestor

The constructed stories show that a subfamily of spiders called Theotiminae may have originated from Africa, while a sister family called Ochyroceratinae was of South American descent. This means that they had more than one common evolutionary ancestor, and the taxonomy might even need revisions.

Why not East Asia?

One question the researchers were trying to answer was: why didn't the spiders migrate from India to East Asia? They note that unlike the humid tropics of Southeast Asia, East Asian countries such as China, Japan, Korea and Mongolia had an arid climate with less than 800mm of annual precipitation during this period.

“Although there is no obvious geographic barrier, this dry or seasonal climate acted as barriers to the colonization of East Asia by theothymines,” explains the article published in Systematic Biology.

Role of climate

Also, during this period, the Tibetan plateau became a mountain belt nearly 4000 m high and the colder and drier climate was also unsuitable for spiders.

“Our analyzes suggest that climate plays a more important role than geology in the biological migration from the Indian subcontinent to Southeast Asia, providing new insights into the Indo-Asian biogeographic link,”

the document notes.

During the field study, the team noted that in some areas spiders were found in the forest litter, while in others they were in caves.

Habitat changes

  • The researchers write that these habitat changes also occur depending on the climate of the region. “Most caves have an almost constant temperature and high humidity throughout the year, which provides suitable shelters for theotimines in environments that vary according to the season. Species in a humid environment can live in garbage or in caves, while species in an environment with little rainfall are more frequently found in caves, ”the document adds.
  • The team writes that an “integrative approach that combines different sources of evidence, such as biogeography and ecology,” can provide a more realistic reconstruction of the history of evolution. They predict that other organisms distributed in the tropics may also exhibit similar migration mechanisms.
DU UG 2023 Admissions Process Expected to Begin End of May

DU UG 2023 Admissions Process Expected to Begin End of May

Admissions for undergraduate and graduate programs will be by CSAS (UG) 2023 and CSAS (PG) 2023. Delhi University plans to…
Read More
CUET UG 2023 Participating Universities | Central University of Karnataka

CUET UG 2023 Participating Universities | Central University of Karnataka

The Central Karnataka University will start admission for its undergraduate programs from May 21 this year. Admission to these UG…
Read More
AIBE XVII 2023 results published

AIBE XVII 2023 results published

XVII Result: Candidates who have taken the exam can now check their result on the AIBE website: allindiabarexamination.com. AIVE…
Read More
CUET PG 2023 | Six universities join the CUET PG

CUET PG 2023 | Six universities join the CUET PG

PG 2023: Interested and eligible candidates can apply until May 5 on the official website: cuet..nic.in. The CUET PG…
Read More
AIBE XVII (17) 2023 result

AIBE XVII (17) 2023 result

Once released, candidates who have taken the AIBE XVII(17) 2023 exam will be able to check their score on the…
Read More
CUET UG 2023 Participating Universities |  Central University of Haryana

CUET UG 2023 Participating Universities |  Central University of Haryana

The university currently has eight schools and 34 departments that offers science and humanities programs. CUET-2023-Preparation 2023: The…
Read More
CUET UG 2023 Participating Universities: BHU

CUET UG 2023 Participating Universities: BHU

CUET UG 2023: After Delhi University, BHU received the most applications among central universities. Here is everything you need to…
Read More
CUET PG 2023 to be held June 5-12

CUET PG 2023 to be held June 5-12

CUET PG 2023: Exams will be held daily from June 5-12, i.e. June 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,…
Read More
CUET UG 2023 Participating Universities | Jamia Hamdard University

CUET UG 2023 Participating Universities | Jamia Hamdard University

Jamia Hamdard offers study programs in Pharmacy, Medicine, Nursing, Chemistry and Life Sciences, Engineering, IT Management to name a few….
Read More
CUET UG 2023 Participating University | Hyderabad University

CUET UG 2023 Participating University | Hyderabad University

Hyderabad University has 12 schools: School of Mathematics and Statistics, School of Chemistry, School of Humanities, School of Life Sciences…
Read More

About Post Author

error

Enjoy this? Please spread the word :)