A Natural Colonisation of Asia: Phylogenomic and Biogeographic History of Coin Spiders (Araneae: Nephilidae: Herennia)

Reconstructing biogeographic history is challenging when dispersal biology of studied species is poorly understood, and they have undergone a complex geological past. Here, we reconstruct the origin and subsequent dispersal of coin spiders (Nephilidae: Herennia Thorell), a clade of 14 species inhabiting tropical Asia and Australasia. Specifically, we test whether the all-Asian range of Herennia multipuncta is natural vs. anthropogenic. We combine Anchored Hybrid Enrichment phylogenomic and classical marker phylogenetic data to infer species and population phylogenies. Our biogeographical analyses follow two alternative dispersal models: ballooning vs. walking. Following these assumptions and considering measured distances between geographical areas through temporal intervals, these models infer ancestral areas based on varying dispersal probabilities through geological time. We recover a wide ancestral range of Herennia including Australia, mainland SE Asia and the Philippines. Both models agree that H. multipuncta internal splits are generally too old to be influenced by humans, thereby implying its natural colonisation of Asia, but suggest quite different colonisation routes of H. multipuncta populations. The results of the ballooning model are more parsimonious as they invoke fewer chance dispersals over large distances. We speculate that coin spiders' ancestor may have lost the ability to balloon, but that H. multipuncta regained it, thereby colonising and maintaining larger areas.

Automated summary

This study reconstructs the origin and dispersal history of coin spiders using phylogenomic and classical marker phylogenetic data. The results suggest that Herennia multipuncta's internal splits were generally too old to be influenced by humans, indicating its natural colonization of Asia. The two dispersal models propose different colonization routes for H. multipuncta populations, with the ballooning model being more parsimonious in invoking fewer chance dispersals over large distances.