Madagascar: an unexpected hotspot of social Anelosimus spider diversity (Araneae: Theridiidae)

@article{Agnarsson2005MadagascarAU,
  title={Madagascar: an unexpected hotspot of social Anelosimus spider diversity (Araneae: Theridiidae)},
  author={Ingi Agnarsson and Matja{\vz} Kuntner},
  journal={Systematic Entomology},
  year={2005},
  volume={30}
}
Abstract.  The spider genus Anelosimus Simon, 1891 (Theridiidae) currently contains over forty described species, found worldwide in tropical to warm temperate areas. American Anelosimus are all social, a rare trait among spiders, but social behaviour has not been reported for Anelosimus species elsewhere. Old World Anelosimus are poorly known, both behaviourally and taxonomically, and no Anelosimus species have yet been described from sub‐Saharan Africa or Madagascar. Based on a preliminary… 
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Methods Citations
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42 Citations

Systematics of new subsocial and solitary Australasian Anelosimus species (Araneae : Theridiidae)

TLDR
A global ecological pattern of sociality in Anelosimus is emerging as taxonomic, phylogenetic and ethological knowledge extends beyond the Americas.

A revision of the New World eximius lineage of Anelosimus (Araneae, Theridiidae) and a phylogenetic analysis using worldwide exemplars

TLDR
A revision of the New World ‘eximius lineage’ containing the most intensely studied Anelosimus species, and a phylogenetic study including worldwide exemplars, corroborate previous findings of convergent evolution of permanent sociality in the genus.

Systematics of the Madagascar Anelosimus spiders: remarkable local richness and endemism, and dual colonization from the Americas

TLDR
A thorough survey of >350 colonies from Périnet, and three pilot surveys into additional Madagascar forests imply a much higher local richness and endemism in Madagascan forests than in any other comparable area globally.

Revision and phylogenetic analysis of American ethicus and rupununi groups of Anelosimus (Araneae, Theridiidae)

TLDR
Two species groups of the social spider genus Anelosimus are revised, indicating that the common ancestor of the ethicus group was subsocial, and quasisociality arose de novo in the rupununi group, representing one of 6−7 independent origins in theridiids.

A new phylogeny of Anelosimus and the placement and behavior of Anelosimus vierae n. sp. from Uruguay (Araneae: Theridiidae)

TLDR
The Uruguayan specimens nest outside of A. studiosus are described as a new species, Anelosimus vierae sp.

Notes on the biology of Anelosimus pacificus Levi, 1963 (Theridiidae, Araneae)—evidence for an evolutionary reversal to a less social state

All hitherto studied Anelosimus species are social, either temporarily (subsocial) or permanently (quasisocial); the genus represents the largest known clade of social spiders. We provide behavioural…

Altitudinal Patterns of Spider Sociality and the Biology of a New Midelevation Social Anelosimus Species in Ecuador

TLDR
It is suggested that the absence of subsocial Anelosimus species in the lowland rain forest may be due to an increased probability of maternal death in this habitat due to greater predation and/or precipitation, while absence of a sufficient supply of large insects at high elevations or latitudes may restrict social species to low‐ to midelevation tropical moist forests.

Phylogenetic systematics of the Gondwanan nephilid spider lineage Clitaetrinae (Araneae, Nephilidae)

TLDR
A species‐level phylogenetic analysis of 32 taxa results in eight most parsimonious cladograms and places Clitaetra as sister to the clade (Herennia+ (Nephilengys+Nephila), which contains the orb‐weaving spider family Nephilidae Simon, but not Deliochus or Phonognatha.

Phylogeny accurately predicts behaviour in Indian Ocean Clitaetra spiders (Araneae : Nephilidae)

TLDR
In Clitaetra, behaviour was highly predictable and remained consistent with new observations, and the results confirm that nephilid web biology is evolutionarily conserved within genera.

Limited role of character displacement in the coexistence of congeneric Anelosimus spiders in a Madagascan montane forest

TLDR
It is found that all species belong to a Madagascan clade that radiated during the Pliocene, but that contemporary local assemblages are non-monophyletic, consistent with allopatric speciation during periods of global cooling and expansion of grasslands, and subsequent species assembly as forest fragments re-expanded and coalesced.

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