BALLINAE

Benjamin, Suresh P., 2004, Taxonomic revision and phylogenetic hypothesis for the jumping spider subfamily Ballinae (Araneae, Salticidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 142 (1), pp. 1-82 : 9-10

BALLINAE RELATIONSHIPS

Initial cladistic analysis of 29 equally weighted, informative characters produced three most parsimonious trees, with a consistency index (CI) of 0.66, a retention index (RI) of 0.68, and a length of 69 steps. The analysis was then repeated twice after successive character weighting ( Farris, 1969; Carpenter, 1988), using the maximum value of the rescaled consistency index. This analysis produced a single tree (length = 34 steps, CI = 0.90, RI = 0.90, rescaled CI = 0.81), identical in topology to one of the trees produced in the unweighted analysis. This tree is presented as the preferred hypothesis of Ballinae generic relationships ( Fig. 1 ).

The subfamily Ballinae is resolved at node 1, supported by the presence of ec (2-1), ec that coils at least once over 360∞ (4-1, 5-1, 5-2), dark band on both lateral sides of legs I–IV (27-1) and enlarged femur (30-1). Within Ballinae , the presence of an oval, bilobed tegulum (1-1), narrow epigynal septum (11-1) and the presence of a translucent septum (18-1) support node 2. Species that were formerly placed in Marengo (except for Cynapes canosus and Sadies ) are united at node 4 as sister to Colaxes + Ballus (node 6). Node 4 is supported by the presence of a convex embolic coil (3-1), white patches on sides of opisthosoma (23-1) and lts (33-1); node 6 by the presence of 2/0/0/2 spines on tibia I (35-0). Nodes 4 and 6 are united at node 3, supported by the presence of a dorsoventrally flattened prosoma (20-1) and an enlarged tibia I (31-1).

Copocrossa Simon, 1901 , Mantisatta and Padilla are included in Ballinae , although only C. tenuilineata ( Simon, 1900) has been studied. The male genitalia of C. tenuilineata are similar to those of other Ballinae . The same can be said for Padilla , a genus of seven species, all from Madagascar. Judging from illustrations in Proszynski (2003) they may be included in Ballinae , as male genitalia show Ballinae synapomorphies: presence of ec (2-1) and spiralling embolus (4-1). Unfortunately, drawings are only available for P. armata Peckham & Peckham, 1894 , and P. cornuta ( Peckham & Peckham, 1885) .

Mantisatta consists of two known species: M. longicauda Cutler & Wanless, 1973 from the Philippines and M. trucidans Warburton, 1900 from Borneo. M. longicauda is the only species known from both sexes. Judging from illustrations of male genitalia in Proszynski (2003) and Cutler & Wanless (1973: figs 5–7) they are probably correctly placed in Ballinae . Their genitalia show Ballinae synapomorphies: presence of ec and a terminally coiled embolus. However, they possess enlarged femur I and tibia I, but lack lts.

Admestina , Attidops and Cheliferoides have been tentatively included in Ballinae by various authors. Maddison (1995, 1996) included Admestina in Ballinae , based on male genital structure. Edwards (1999) tentatively included Attidops in Ballinae , based mainly on male genital characters: presence of a pale longitudinal furrow, well-coiled embolus lying flat on the tegulum, unequally bilobed tegulum and presence of a flattened carapace. Platnick (1984) observed that Cheliferoides possess a palp similar to that of Marengo . However, I do not consider any of these genera to be correctly placed in Ballinae due to the absence of ec (2-1), a spiralled embolus that coils at least once (4-1, 5-1, 5-2).

Maddison (1995, 1996) used the following two characters to place Admestina and Cheliferoides in Ballinae : (1) a well-coiled embolus lying flat on the tegulum, and (2) a tegulum which is divided by a pale longitudinal furrow. Emboli of Admestina and Cheliferoides coil less than once around the tegulum, they are broad-based, stout and project outwards; Attidops has a longer embolus ( Edwards, 1999). While the presence of an oval, bilobed tegulum in Admestina and Attidops suggests placement within Ballinae , the lack of an embolic coil means that their affinity to the subfamily remains unclear. These genera might form a taxon that is sister to Ballinae . The presence of an unequally bilobed tegulum (1-1) and flattened carapace (20-1) might turn out to be plesiomorphic for Ballinae . Thus, the phylogeny of Ballinae needs to be reassessed in future studies.

Salticidae is the largest spider family, with 4834 described species and 531 genera ( Platnick, 2003). Many have been inadequately described and estab- lishing their evolutionary relationships is an enormous task. It is my hope that the present study will go some way towards achieving this goal and encourage other workers to examine scales and other morphological characters, together with cheliceral dentition and genitalia.

Figures

Figure 1. Preferred most parsimonious tree of Ballinae genera based on successive character weighting (length = 34 steps, CI = 0.84, RI = 0.90). Character state changes are mapped using Farris optimization. Bold numbers indicate unambiguous character changes.