Molecular phylogenetic evidence for the parallel evolution of rock ecomorphs in the New Zealand orb-weaving spider Waitkera waitakerensis (family Uloboridae)

The genus Waitkero is the only New Zealand representative of the family Uloboridae and is known from a single species, Waitkera waitakerensis. This species is found in forest., of the North Island, where it constructs orb-webs On understory vegetation. Rock outcrops in the Northland region support Populations Of W. waitkerensis comprised of larger individuals than those found elsewhere on the island, including, those in Surrounding forests. Parsimony analyses of DNA sequences from the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase Subunit ND1, using Siratoba refernes, another basal uloborid, as an out group, did not delineate these rock-dwelling populations as a inonophyletic lineage that Could be regarded as a distinct species. A TCS analysis leads to the same conclusion, suggesting that rock-dwelfing Populations represent independently evolved ecotypes. Northland populations of W. waitakerensis are phylogenetically basal; indicating that the species' range contracted northward during the Pleistocene and recolonized the remainder of the North Island.