An Allozyme Electrophoretic Study of Populations of Spiders of the Genus Corasoides (Araneae: Stiphidiidae) from Australia and Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Allozyme electrophoresis was used to delineate the boundaries of the spider genus Corasoides, clarify the identity of C. australis Butler, 1929, and identify putative new species within the genus. Fixed gene differences, together with similarity and distance trees, showed that C. australis was widespread across much of southern Australia while eight new species were differentiated that had comparatively narrow distributions in Australia and Papua New Guinea. Wagner trees were used to show phylogenetic relationships between these species.