Evolutionary Patterns and Diversity of Arachnida
A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Diversity".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 May 2024) | Viewed by 8414
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to invite you to contribute to the upcoming Special Issue of Diversity, titled “Evolutionary patterns and Diversity of Arachnida”.
Arachnida represent an ancient, ecologically diverse and immensely species-rich group of animals. The backbone of their evolutionary relationships is relatively well-understood in most arachnid lineages, but the processes that created the extant diversity and spatio-temporally shaped its patterns often remain obscure. Although the center of diversity of arachnids is found in tropics and subtropics, lineages such as spiders, harvestmen, scorpions, pseudoscorpions, ticks and mites possess wide distributions, which is one of the main reasons for why they have been on the forefront of taxonomic and evolutionary research for decades. The remaining, less-diversified arachnid orders remain, unfortunately, largely understudied.
Arachnid diversity itself is underestimated even among the better-known lineages. Barcoding efforts and targeted phylogenetic and phylogenomic studies routinely help detect undescribed diversity from poorly known to megadiverse regions. However, species crypsis seems to be a common phenomenon in Arachnida; therefore, such diversity emerges even in areas with a long tradition of taxonomic research. Assessing biological diversity and unraveling its evolutionary origins is an essential step towards a better understanding of speciation patterns and processes, stable taxonomy and effective conservation management.
This Special Issue aims at advancing our knowledge regarding the evolutionary history and current diversity of Arachnida. We invite both original research and review papers on all arachnid orders that will enhance our understanding of the evolutionary processes involved in Arachnida diversification.
Dr. Vera Opatova
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- biogeography
- biological diversity
- cryptic species
- integrative taxonomy
- phylogeny
- species delimitation
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