Adaptive radiation in Hawaiian Tetragnatha
See short video of collecting (at night) on Maui. Also, T. stelarobusta from Maui.
The spider genus Tetragnatha in the Hawaiian Islands has undergone spectacular adaptive radiation. The many different species exhibit a huge spectrum of colors, shapes, sizes, ecological affinities, and behaviors. Many species are web-building, with structural modifications of the abdomen that allow concealment within specific microhabitats. I am generating phylogenetic patterns of relationship for different groups of Hawaiian Tetragnatha, and establishing relationships to mainland congeners, employing morphological and various molecular approaches. Using this information, I can test the role of morphological, ecological and behavioral attributes in dictating patterns of diversification and community assembly across the archipelago.
