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Genus Geolycosa - Burrowing Wolf Spiders

Geolycosa micanopy Geolycosa xera - female Geolycosa patellonigra - male lycosid from burrow in sandy area - Geolycosa Wolf Spider - Geolycosa missouriensis Geolycosa - Geolycosa rafaelana - female Wolf spider in burrow - Geolycosa burrowing wolf spider nw Colorado - Geolycosa
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)
No Taxon (Entelegynae)
Family Lycosidae (Wolf Spiders)
Genus Geolycosa (Burrowing Wolf Spiders)
Pronunciation
jee-o-ley-CO-suh(1)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Explanation of Names
Montgomery, 1904

Greek, from a combining form of Attic, 'Earth', and Lycosa; 'the underground Lycosa'.(1)
Numbers
75 species (including one subspecies), 18 species plus one subspecies in BugGuide's range (North America north of Mexico).(2)

Geolycosa domifex (Hancock, 1899)
Geolycosa escambiensis Wallace, 1942
Geolycosa latifrons Montgomery, 1904*
Geolycosa rogersi Wallace, 1942
Geolycosa uinticolens (Chamberlin, 1936)
Geolycosa xera archboldi McCrone, 1963
* = type species(2)
Range


Geolycosa domifex — USA, Canada; Great Lakes region.(3)

Geolycosa escambiensis — USA; FL west of the Apalachicola river, one specimen found in NC(4)

Geolycosa fatifera — USA; Atlantic Coastal Plain from NJ to FL and westward to MO. (GA, LA, MO, NJ, NC)(4)

Geolycosa gosoga — USA; AZ, CA(4)

Geolycosa hubbelli — FL; "Big Scrub area of Ocala National Forest (northern Mount Dora ridge) and at Arbuckle Lake State Preserve (Lake Wales Ridge)."(5)

Geolycosa latifrons: Known only from the vicinity of Austin, TX.(4)

Geolycosa micanopy: Known only from FL; occuring from Walton Co. in the west to Dade Co. in the south.(4)

Geolycosa missouriensis: Southern Alberta to the Great Lakes, south to Arizona and Texas.(3)

Geolycosa ornatipes: Florida, east of the Apalachicola River, and Georgia.(4)

Geolycosa patellonigra: Known only from FL but probably also occurs in GA.(4)

Geolycosa pikei: Atlantic Coastal Plain from GA to ME and also on adjacent islands.(4)

Geolycosa rafaelana: AZ, CO, NM, UT(4)

Geolycosa riograndae: Known only from Zapata and Hidalgo counties in southern TX.(4)

Geolycosa rogersi: FL & GA(4)

Geolycosa turricola: CT, FL, GA, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC, TN, VA and PA.(4)

Geolycosa uinticolens: UT(4)

Geolycosa wrighti: Southern Manitoba to the Great Lakes, south to South Dakota and Oklahoma. The species has also been reported in Colorado (Gwynne 1979).(3)

Geolycosa xera: Central FL - South Volusia Co., Seminole Co., Orange Co., Lake Co., Polk Co., and northern Highlands Co.(6)

Geolycosa xera archboldi: Highlands Co., FL.(6)
Habitat
Remarks
"Phylogenetic analyses of molecular and morphological traits indicate new species and new patterns of divergence for Florida's Geolycosa wolf spiders." 2001 here
S. D. Marshall, K. Thornburg, and W. Hoeh.

Currently, 15 species of Geolycosa have been described based on a limited number of morphological characteristics. The state of Florida has nine Geolycosa sp., seven living in scrubs and sandhills across the state. The goals of this project are to (1) estimate the evolutionary relationships among Floridian Geolycosa populations and species using comparisons of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) DNA sequences and morphological traits, and (2) use the hypothesized relationships to infer the historical patterns of the evolutionary diversification of Geolycosa across the state. Geolycosa individuals from a total of 33 Florida scrub sites were collected and identified based on morphological characteristics. Total DNAs from 74 individuals representing the species G. escambiensis, G. micanopy, G. patellonigra, G. x. xera, G. x. archboldi, G. hubbelli, G. ornatipes, G. wrighti, G. missouriensis, G. rafaelana, G. turricola, and G. pikei were extracted and a portion (ca. 710 base pairs) of the COI gene amplified using the polymerase chain reaction. To date, the COI fragments from 38 individuals representing 11 species of Geolycosa have been cycle sequenced. Preliminary phylogenetic analyses of the COI sequences and morphological traits suggest that (1) Floridian Geolycosa are not a monophyletic assemblage, (2) G. xera, G. escambiensis, G. hubbelli, G. patellonigra, and G. micanopy are not valid species in a phylogenetic sense, and (3) the two distinct ecotypes of Geolycosa have evolved repeatedly across the state. We also found that the patterns of phylogeographic divergence different from those previously proposed. Earlier models for the patterns of diversification of Floridian Geolycosa proposed that scrub Geolycosa are the descendants of Atlantic coastal species, which diverged on the interglacial islands that comprised the ancient Florida peninsula in a north-south pattern. We found evidence that the Geolycosa of the entire eastern USA are derived from ancestors in the western Panhandle, and that the pattern of divergence within Florida occurred from west to east.



"Evidence for repeated one-way introgression in Geolycosa wolf spiders in Florida" 2004 here

Samuel D. Marshall
J. H. Barrow Field Station, Environmental Studies Program
Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio

W. Randy Hoeh, Ting Wu
Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University Kent, Ohio

Gail Stratton
Department of Biology, University of Mississippi Oxford, Mississippi

Pat Miller
Department of Biology, Northwestern Mississippi Community College
Senatobia, Mississippi

Currently, 18 species of Geolycosa have been described based on a limited number of morphological characteristics. The state of Florida has nine Geolycosa sp., seven living in scrubs and sandhills across the state. We have studied the phylogeny of this genus to: 1. test for any biogeographic signal in the tree topologies and 2. to test for the monophyly of morphospecies. We used cytochrome c-oxidase subunit I (COI) in a cladistic analysis. Total DNAs were extracted, amplified, and sequenced from 150 individuals representing the species G. escambiensis , G. micanopy , G. patellonigra , G. x. xera , G. x. archboldi , G. hubbelli , G. ornatipes , G. wrighti , G. rafaelana, G. turricola, G. rogersi, G. fatifera, G. missiouriensis, G. riogrande, Lycosa carolinensis, Sosippus placidus, Pardosa milvina, and lycosid species South Africa and lycosid species Australia. Results to date suggest that: 1. North American Geolycosa is a monophyletic group, within in which the Floridian Geolycosa + Eastern US Geolycosa are a monophyletic assemblage. We also found evidence for repeated introgression events wherein G. micanopy females mated with males of G. hubbelli, G. pattellonigra, G. x. xera, and G. x. archboldi. This conclusion is based on a lack of congruence between the mtDNA trees and trees generated using morphology and nuclear markers. These past hybridization events apparently occurred in one area in southeast Florida.
Internet References
pdf 1 hubbelli, xera
pdf 2 turricola
pdf 3 turricola, micanopy
pdf 4 turricola
pdf 5 hubbelli, xera
pdf 6 hubbelli, xera
pdf 7 Burrows

Geolycosa rogersi (female) - Flickr image taken by Jack Koerner & ID'd under the microscope by G.B. Edwards.

Works Cited
1.Spiders of North America: An Identification Manual
D. Ubick, P. Paquin, P.E. Cushing and V. Roth (eds). 2005. American Arachnological Society.
2.The World Spider Catalog by Norman I. Platnick
3.The Wolf Spiders, Nurseryweb Spiders, and Lynx Spiders of Canada and Alaska
Dondale, Charles D. and James H. Redner. 1990. Canadian Government Publishing Centre, Ottawa.
4.A revision of the burrowing spiders of the genus Geolycosa
Wallace, H. K. 1942. The University of Notre Dame.
5.Biogeography and conservation biology of Florida’s Geolycosa wolf spiders: threatened spiders in endangered ecosystems
Marshall et al. 2000. Journal of Insect Conservation, 4, 11-21.
6.Taxonomic Status and Evolutionary History of the Geolycosa pikei Complex in the Southeastern United States (Araneae, Lycosidae)
John D. McCrone. 1963. Florida Presbyterian College, St. Petersburg.