FIRST FOSSIL FILISTATIDAE: A NEW SPECIES OF MISIONELLA IN MIOCENE AMBER FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

2005·8.6 MB·English

by  David Penney

2005. The Journal of Arachnology 33:93-100
FIRST FOSSIL FILISTATIDAEi A NEW SPECIES
OF MISIONELLA IN MIOCENE AMBER
FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Da¥M Penney: Earth Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, Ml3 9PL,
United Kingdom
ABSTRACT. Misionella didicostae new species is described from 15-20 Ma Miocene amber from the
Dominican Republic as the first fossil record of the family Filistatidae. The biogeography of the extant
(Brazil and Argentina) and the new fossil species supports the hypothesis that the developing northern
Greater Antilles and northwestern South America were briefly (33-35 Ma) connected by a landspan
centered on the ero.ergeiit Aves Ridge. Undiscovered extant species ofMisionella may existon Hispaniola.
The autospasized firstpair oflegs suggestthatthe spiderwas engulfed in a flowingresin seep ofrelatively
low viscosity, rather than having wandered onto a sticky exudate, becoming stuck and then covered by a
subsequent resin flow.
Keywords: Hispaniola, Araneae, spider, biogeography, autospasy
The spider family Filistatidae has an almost amber as a syninclusion. The holotype and
worldwide distribution in tropical and warm only known specimen is held in the collection
temperate regions, and consists of 107 species of the Museo del Ambar Dominicano, Puerto
and one subspecies in 16 genera (Platnick Plata, Dominican Republic.
2003). These small to medium-sized, cribeh Measurements and drawings,—All mea-
late spiders represent one of the most basal surements were made using an ocular grati-
branches of the Haplogynae (Platnick et al. cule and are in mm. Drawings were done un-
1991). Filistatidae have not previously been der incident light with a camera lucida
described in the fossil record, although Eskov attached to an Olympus SZH stereomicro-
(1990) mentioned a fossil specimen from the scope and photographs were taken with a Ni-
Upper Jurassic of Kazakhstan. The current kon DIX digital camera attached to a Wild
evolutionary tree (including the new fossil de- M8 stereomicroscope then manipulated in
scribed in this paper) of the Haplogynae (Fig. Adobe Photoshop.
1) predicts the presence of Filistatidae in the Abbreviations used in the text and fig-
—
fossil record back to the Upper Cretaceous. ures.- In the leg formula (e.g. 1423), the legs
However, this is a youngest age prediction are ranked in order of length (longest first).
based on the presence of Ooeopidae and Se- Abbreviations are as follows: cx = coxa; cy
gestriidae in amber from New Jersey (Penney = cymbium; e = embolus; fe = femur; h =
2002a, 2004). Here, the first fossil Filistatidae haem,olymph; la = labium; mt == metatarsus;
is described in the genus Misionella, from op = opisthosoma; pa = patella; pi = paraem-
Miocene (15-20 Ma; e.g, Iturralde-Vineet & bolic lamina; pom = leg segment present but
MacPhee 1996) Dominican Republic amber. not measurable; pp = pedipalp; rex = retro-
lateral excavation; s = long setae; sp = spine;
METHODS spr = spinneret region; st = sternum; ta —
Preservation,—The spider is preserved tarsus; ti = tibia; 1-4 = walking legs 1-4.
close to the surface of a clear yellow, tear- SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY
shaped piece of Dominican Republic amber 4
cm long X 1.7 cm wide; for details oflocality Family Filistatidae Ausserer 1867
and stratigraphy see Iturraide-Vineet & Subfamily Prithinae Gray 1995
MacPhee (1996). The spider is best observed Misionella Ra—mirez & Grismado 1997
in ventral view. There are two partial insect Type species, Filistata mendensis Mello-
legs and the associated thoracic stereite in the Leitao 1920 by original designation.
93
94 THE JOURNAL OF ARACHNOLOGY
L<U
U<J Q
UJ
i5u<j % ^Q < L<JJ
^ < Sym Q5O “<gaUJ H= y^<QLy3LU UoOmJ ^^“^9 L<Q~U L<Q“U ^QQ1^ ^QC<O
UQwJUCJe_OOJn9jhQ- D>Xf- oh-^UJE<hP-iP
O _CD X ^0 UJ o ^ o a
Age(Ma) u. O O .Q CO a. Q CL O U_JJ UhJ- CO CO Q
DRA/*SSC
MA
B/BA
AeP
NJA
135
o
oN 0rco)
O >Oo.)
Q.
X<S
180
KEY
205 rangeextension based on
phylogeneticrelationships
range based on published
record ofdescribed specimen(s)
describedfossilspiders
hypothesized relationships
ghostlineage based on
phylogenetic relationships
250
— —
PENNEY—FOSSIL FILISTATIDAE IN DOMINICAN AMBER 95
—
Distribution. Recent species in Brazil wide, fine detail of anal tubercle, spinnerets
and Argentina, fossil species in Dominican and cribellum not clear, situated ventrally, ad-
Republic amb—er. vanced from the posterior margin (Figs. 2, 3).
Remarks. Misionella was erected as a Leg formula 1423; leg 1 cx 0.33, fe 1.86,
monotypic genus by Ramirez & Grismado ti 2.13, mt 1,64, ta 1.00; leg 2 cx 0.30, fe 1.34,
(1997) for Fiiistata mendensis from Brazil ti 1.47, mt 0.70, ta 0.60; leg 3 cx 0.30, fe 0.93,
and Argentina. Grismado & Ramirez (2000) ti 0.93, mt0.83, ta 0.43; leg 4 cx 0.33, fe 1.36,
described a second species from Brazil. ti pnm, mt LOO, ta not preserved; mt 2 with
a retrolateral excavation in the distal halfbear-
Misionella didicostae new species
ing a single prominent retrolateral spine (Figs.
Figs. 2-5
2-4); mt 1 with a single long, ventral terminal
Material examined. ^Holotype, adult spine; remaining leg segments without spines.
male in Dominican Republic amber, held in All leg segments, opisthosoma and sternum
the Museo del Ambar Dominicano, Puerto with clearly visible, long setae. Pedipalp fe
Plata, Dominican Republic. long, ti globose without projections, cymbium
Diagnosis.' Misionella didicostae can be vestigial and partially fused to tegulum, em-
distinguished from the two known extant spe^ bolus spirally twisted distally which extends
cies by having a spiralled embolus distally ex- well beyond the paraembolic lamina (Fig. 5).
tending well beyond the paraembolic lamina. Female.—Unknown.
In addition, it lacks small spinules in the re- Distribution and age.—Dominican Repub-
trolateral excav—ation of metatarsus 2. lic amber; Miocene (see Iturralde-Vinent &
Etymology.' ^The specific epithet is a ma- MacPhee [1996]).
tronym in honor of Mrs Ada (Didi) Benelli Remarks.—This specimen conforms with
Costa who co-foeeded the Museo del Ambar the diagnostic characters of the genus given
Dominicano, Puerto Plata, Dominican Repub- by Ramirez & Grismado (1997). Ramirez &
lic in 1982, based on collections amassed over Grismado (1997) performed a cladistic anal-
33 years. ysis of the filistatid genera, which are placed
Description of holotype.^Body length in two subfamilies, Filistatinae and Prithinae.
2.21; carapace 0.84 long, width not measur- Only males of the genera Misionella Ramirez
&
able; ocular region slightly raised, with eight Grismado 1997 and Pikelinia Mello-Leitio
closely grouped eyes. Clear views of the eye 1946 have the metatarsus of the second leg
arrangement and carapace shape are not af- modified, presumably to perform a clasping
forded by the specimen, but there are no ob- function during copulation. Extant species of
vious differences between the details visible both these genera are known only from South
and the figure ofthe type species provided by America and the Galapagos Islands (Grismado
Ramirez & Grismado (1997: fig. 96). Only & Ramirez 2000; Ramirez & Grismado 1997;
distal tips of chelicerae visible: weak, unmod- Mtiller 1987). These genera are distinguished
ified with a small fang. Labium longer than from one another by the structure of the male
broad, with curved sides converging to form palpal tibia. Pikelinia has a prominent dorsal
a pointed tip; fused to sternum. Maxillae lon- retrolateral projection, whereas Misionella
ger than wide, convergent. Sternum subcir- does not (Ramirez & Grismado 1997). The
cular, width 0.40, length offused sternum and new fossil species differs from the two known
labium 0.77. Opisthosoma 1.21 long, 0.54 extant species ofMisionella in the structure of
Figure L—Evolutionary tree oftheHaplogynae. DRA = DominicanRepublic amber(Wunderlich 1988;
Penney 2001, this paper); SSC = Shanwang, Shandong, China (Dysderidae only; Zhang et al. 1994); MA
= Mexican amber(Petrunkevitch 1971); B/BA = Baltic andBitterfeldambers (Menge 1854;Petrankevitch
1950; Wunderlich 1981, 1991, 1993); AeP = Aix en Provence (Gourret 1888); NJA = New Jersey amber
(Penney 2002a, 2004). Cladogram follows Coddington & Levi (1991); for details of evolutionary tree
construction and terminology see Smith (1994). Not illustrated: Segestriidae describedby Hickman (1957)
and Oonopidae from Japan and Kenya (Nishikawa 1974 and Wunderlich 1981 respectively) may beextant
species in Recent copal (e.g, Poinar 1992).
96 THE JOURNAL OF ARACHNOLOGY
PENNEY^FOSSIL FILISTATIDAE IN DOMINICAN AMBER 97
the pedipalp= In M. mendensis (Mello=Leitao MacPhee (1999) proposed that during the Eo-
1920) the embolus is not spiralled but has cene-Oligoceee transition, the developing
only a slight kink and it does not extend be^ northern Greater Antilles and northwestern
yoed the paraembolic lamina; M. jaminawa South America were briefly (33-35 Ma) con-
Grismado & Ramirez 2000 has a hook-shaped nected by a landspae (a subaerial connection
embolus and lacks a paraembolic lamina. In between a continent and one or more off-shelf
addition, both extant species have small spi- islands) centered on the emergent Aves Ridge.
Eules in the retrolateral excavation of mt2; This landspan consisted of a series of large,
these are absent in the new fossil species. closely spaced islands or possibly a continu-
Based on the pedipalp morphology the new ous peninsula stretching from northern South
species is more closely related to M. menden- America to the Puerto RicoA/irgin Islands
sis. Block (Iturralde-Vinent & MacPhee 1999).
DISCUSSION The massive uplift that apparently permitted
these connections was finished by 32 Ma
The fossil and extant Hispaeiola&n spider (Iturralde-Vinent & MacPhee 1999). The
faunas were reviewed by Penney Perez-
Greater Antilles in their current guise are rel-
Gelabert (2002). The only known filistatid atively young geographical features, probably
from the island was the extant Kukulcania
no older than the middle Miocene. Therefore,
Mbernalis (Hentz 1842), which is most cer- all oe-islaed lineages forming the Recent fau-
tainly an introduced species (Penney 1999).
na must be younger than Middle Eocene (Itur-
Based on this observation, Penney (1999) hy- ralde-Vinent & MacPhee 1999). The known
pothesized that Filistatidae may not have been
distribution of Recent and fossil species of
present on Hispaniola during the Miocene
Misionella supports the Greater Antillean-
when the amberwas formed, and thatthe fam-
iTlhyehdaidsccoovleornyizoefdthteheneiswlafnodssimlorfaelsirfeiceesnttlhyi.s rSaoludteh-VAimneenrtic&a MlaancdPshpeaen h(y1p99o9t)h,esriasthoefr Itthuarn-
the Greater Antillean-Cefitiai .kmericae land
hypothesis and undiscovered extant species of
connection hypothesis of Petrunkevitch
Misionella may also exist on the island today.
This new family record for the fossil fauna (1928). &
brings the number of families recorded from Roth Roth (1984) defined autospasy as
named species in Dominican Republic amber the separation of appendages, segments or
to 36 and the total number offamilies record- parts thereof at a predetermined locus of
ed to 45 (see Penney & Perez-Gelabert 2002). weakness when the appendages or segments
Misionella was formerly only recorded are restrained by any external (not self-in-
from extant species in Brazil and Argentina duced) source. Entrapment in amber would
(Ramirez & Grismado 1997) although it prob- constitute such a source. Autospasy occurs
ably has a wider distribution in South Amer- rarely in haplogynes but is known to occur in
ica. It is not included in species lists for Pan- Filistatidae at the patellar-tibia joint. In the
ama (Nentwig 1993), Costa Rica (Vega 1980), fossil, right legs 1 and 4 and left legs 1 and 3
Cuba (Alaybn-Garcia 2000) and is notrecord- have autospasized at this point and there are
ed from Noith America (Ffiamick 2003). Pe- what I interpret as haemolymph exudations
trunkevitch (1928) considered the GreaterAn- from the patella of right leg 1 and possibly
tillean spider fauna to represent an eastern also left leg 1 preserved in the amber (Figs.
outgrowth of the Central American fauna by 2, 3), which indicates it had happened shortly
way ofapresumed earlierlandconnection and after becoming entrapped in the resin. Indeed,
subsequent continent-island vicariaece. How- the first pair oflegs are preserved in the same
ever, such a land connection appears never to piece of amber close to the spider, however
&
have existed (Ross Scotese 1988; Iturralde- they have rotated around approximately 180
Vieent & MacPhee 1999). Iturralde-Vinent & degrees (Figs. 2, 3), This observation suggests
—
Figure 2. Misionella didicostae new species. Holotype male, DominicanRepublic amber. Ventralview
of whole specimen. Scale line 1.0 mm.
98 THE JOURNAL OF ARACHNOLOGY
—
Figure 3. Misionella didicostae new species. Holotype male, Dominican Republic amber. Camera
lucida drawing of whole specimen. Scale line 1.0 mm. Refer to text for abbreviations.
PENNEY—FOSSIL FILISTATIDAE IN DOMINICAN AMBER 99
—
Figures 4—5, Misionella didicostae new species. Holotype male, Dominican Republic amber. 4, meta-
tarsus 2. 5, pedipalp. Scale line 0.5 mm. Refer to text for abbreviations.
that the spider was engulfed in a flowing resin Gourret, M.P. 1888. Recherches sur les arachnides
seep of relatively low viscosity, rather than Tertiaires d’Aix en Provence, Recueil Zoolo-
having wandered onto a sticky exudate, be- gique Suisse 1888:431-496.
coming stuck and then covered by a subse- Gray, M.R. 1995. Morphology and relationships
quent resin flow, as is known to have occured within the spider family Filistatidae (Araneae:
Araneomorphae). Records of the Western Aus-
in many cases of invertebrate amber preser- tralian Museum, Supplement 52:79-89.
vation (Penney 2002b). Although Recent spe- Grismado, C.J. & M.J. Ramirez. 2000. Notes onthe
cies ofMisionella are primarily synanthropic, spider genus Misionella with a description of a
some have been collected from tree trunks new species from Brazil (Araneae: Filistatidae).
(Ramirez & Grismado 1997). The discovery Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment
of this genus in amber is consistent with eco- 35:161-163.
logical observations of its Recent relatives. Hentz, N.M. 1842. Descriptions and figures of the
araneides ofthe United States. Boston Journal of
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Natural History 4:54-57,223-231.
I thank Michele Costa, Ada (Didi) Benelli Hickman, V.V. 1957. A fossil spider from Tertiary
Costa and Annie Del Rosario for their hospi- retinite at Allendale, Victoria. Proceedings ofthe
Royal Society of Victoria 69:25-27.
tality, including provision ofresearch facilities Iturralde-Vinent, M.A. & R.D.E. MacPhee. 1996.
and access to the collections held in the Mu- Age and paleogeogeographical origin ofDomin-
seo del Ambar Dominicano, Puerto Plata, Do- ican amber. Science 273:1850-1852.
minican Republic. I thank M. Ramirez, Uni- Iturralde-Vinent, M.A. & R.D.E. Macphee. 1999.
versity of Buenos Aires for reprints, R A. Paleogeography of the Caribbean region: impli-
Selden, University ofManchester for his com- cations for Cenozoic biogeography. Bulletin of
ments on the manuscript and I acknowledge a the American Museum of Natural History 238:
Leverhulme Trust grant. 1-95.
Mello-Leitao, C.F. 1920. Algumas aranhas novas.
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