The Israel Taxonomy Initiative
Course Syllabus:Spiders of Israel: Taxonomy and functional morphology
Instructor: Dr.RobertRaven, Head of Terrestrial Biodiversity & Chelicerata Senior Curator, Queensland Museum, Australia.
Israeli Hosts: Prof. Yael Lubin (BGU), Dr. Ariel Chipman (HUJI), and Dr. Efrat Gavish-Regev (TAU).
Dates: 14-18 October 2012.
Hours: 8:30-16:30 daily (First day 10:00-18:00).
Prerequisites: None.
Grading: Oral examination (species identification).
Day 1
Morning session (10:00-13:00)
Introduction (and acclimatization to the Australian tongue)
-When a spider is not a spider: necessary and sufficient diagnostic characters (10 minutes)
-Spider diversity in Israel: an overview (30 minutes)
-Fine tuning the microscope skills (20 minutes, using animals)
-Working without a microscope: microscopic characters belied by behaviour (need live spiders) (1 hour)
Spider Biology
-Eyes, sight (1 hour)
Lunch break (13:00-13:40)
Afternoon session (13:40-18:00)
-Feeding, digestion, chelicerae, bite & venom: an overview (1 hour)
-Morphology and function of mouthparts, including serrula, lyra (1 hour)
-Abdomen, spinnerets from 8 to 2 (1 hour)
Coffee break (16:40-17:00)
-Booklungs and tracheae (20 minutes)
-Sensory organs on legs, setae trichobothria (30 minutes)
-Alternative approaches to taxonomy: dredging for informative characters (10 minutes)
Day 2
Morning session (8:30-12:30)
Excursion inthe Valley of the Cross/ HUJI Botanical Gardens
Afternoon session (12:30-16:30, including coffee brakes)
Sex, palps mating and epigyne (3 hours with material)
-Sexual dimorphism and matching sexes (20 minutes)
Species concepts
-Mating and molecules, with mating video (20 minutes)
Day 3
Morning session (8:30-10:30)
Short excursion in the university vicinities
Morning cont. +Afternoon session (10:30-16:30, including lunch coffee brakes)
Spider taxonomy the overview (using what you have learnt so far)
-Suborder, Infraorders and Superfamilies and families (20 minutes)
Mygalomorphae
-Key characters, evolutionary pressures and grades (20 minutes)
-Introduction to mygalomorph families with diagnostic features and keysEuropean taxa (Atypidae, Ctenizidae, Nemesiidae, Cyrtaucheniidae, Hexathelidae, Idiopidae,Theraphosidae) (3 hours)
-Southern Relics (Migidae, Actinopodidae, Barychelidae), 30 minutes
-Asian and American families (Paratropididae, Dipluridae, Mecicobothriidae, Antrodiaetidae) 40 minutes
Day 4
Morning session (8:30-10:30)
Lycosoidea
-Miturgidae, Lycosidae, Zoridae, Zoropsidae, Ctenidae, Pisauridae, Oxyopidae
Coffee break (10:30-10:45)
Morning session cont. (10:45-12:45)
Cursorial spiders
-Clubionidae, Anyphaenidae, Liocranidae, Corinnidae
Lunch break (12:45-13:30)
Afternoon session(13:30-16:30)
Genus concepts and the hypothesis-testing basis of taxonomy (20 minutes)
Sorting material (14:00-16:30)
Optional (16:00-17:30):Short excursion in the university vicinities
Day 5
Morning session (8:30-13:15)
Other Cursorial spiders
-Tufted: Sparassidae, Salticidae, Philodromidae, Thomisidae(1 hour)
Gnaphosidae & relatives
-Gnaphosidae, Prodidomidae, Lamponidae, Cithaeronidae, Ammoxenidae (1 hour)
Coffee break (10:30-10:45)
Three clawed
-Amaurobiidae, Agelenidae, Zodariidae, Eresidae, Cybaeidae, Dictynidae, Hahniidae, Hersiliiidae, Titanoecidae (1 hour)
Special respiratory families
-Oonopidae, Dydseridae, Segestriidae, Filistatidae, Scytodidae, Sicariidae, Oecobiidae, Pholcidae (1 hour)
Dispersal and Biogeography: an introduction (20 minutes)
Lunch break (13:15-14:00)
Afternoon session (14:00-16:30)
Critical and independent thinking:
-Other solution to relationships
-Correct and intelligent use of keys
EXAM
Questions, comments and course evaluation.
Bibliography:
Few copies of the books and PDF's of the papers will be provided during the course.
Spider Biology:
Foelix, R., 2010. Biology of Spiders. Oxford University Press, 3rd edition. 432 pp.
Spider Identification books:
Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.,Jocque,R., 1997. African Spiders: An Identification Manual. Plant Protection Research Institute (ARC-PPR). 400 pp.
Jocque, R., Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S., 2006. Spider Families of the World. RoyalMuseum for central Africa. 336 pp.
Raven, R.J., Baehr B.C., & Harvey, M.S., 2002. Spiders of Australia - Interactive Identification to Subfamily (CD-ROM). CSIRO PUBLISHING / Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS).
Roberts, M.J., 1995. Collins Field Guide: Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe. Harper Collins Publishers. 383 pp.
Ubick, D., Paquin, P., Cushing, P.E., & Roth, V., (eds.), 2005. Spiders of North America: an Identification manual.American Arachnological Society. 377 pp.
Taxonomic papers:
Levy, G., 1973. Crab-spiders of six genera from Israel(Araneae: Thomisidae).Israel Journal of Zoology22 (2-4): 107-141.
Levy, G., 1975. The spider genera Synaema and Oxyptila inIsrael (Araneae: Thomisidae). Israel Journal of Zoology24 (3-4): 155-175.
Levy, G., 1976. The spider genus Xysticus (Araneae: Thomisidae) in Israel. Israel Journal of Zoology25 (1): 1-37.
Levy, G., 1977. The philodromid spiders of Israel (Araneae: Philodromidae). Israel Journal of Zoology26 (3-4): 193-229.
Levy, G., 1985. Araneae: Thomisidae.Monograph in: Fauna Palaestina (Arachnida II). VI+114 pp.IsraelAcademy of Sciences and Humanities, Jerusalem.
Levy, G., 1989. The family of huntsman spiders in Israelwith annotations on species of the Middle East(Araneae: Sparassidae).Journal of Zoology, London217: 127-176.
Levy, G., 1990. On the cribellate spider Zoropsis lutea in Israel (Araneae: Zoropsidae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society8 (5): 139-143.
Levy, G., 1990. Spiders of the genus Lachesana and a new storenoid genus from Israel(Araneae: Zodariidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, London98: 327-362.
Levy, G., 1991. On some new and uncommon spiders from Israel (Araneae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society8(7): 227-232.
Levy, G., 1992.The spider genera Palestina, Trygetus, Zodarion and Ranops (Araneae, Zodariidae) inIsrael with annotations on species of theMiddle East. IsraelJournal of Zoology 38 (2): 67-110.
Levy, G., 1993. On the unknown male of Nonianus pictus and the female of Cerbalus negebensis (Araneae: Sparassidae) from Israel.IsraelJournal of Zoology39 (3): 231-234.
Levy, G., V.I. Ovtsharenko & N.I. Platnick1994. A review of the ground spider genus Synaphosus (Araneae: Gnaphosidae). AmericanMuseumNovitates, No. 3095, 27 pp.
Levy, G., 1995. Revision of the spider subfamily Gnaphosinae in Israel (Araneae: Gnaphosidae).Journal of Natural History, London29: 919-981.
Levy, G., 1996.The agelenid funnel-weaver family and the spider genus Cedicus in Israel (Araneae, Agelenidae and Cybaeidae).Zoologica Scripta, Oslo & Stockholm25 (2): 85-122.
Levy, G., 1998. Araneae: Theridiidae. Monograph in: Fauna Palaestina (Arachnida III).226 pp.IsraelAcademy of Sciences and Humanities, Jerusalem.
Levy, G., 1998. The ground-spider generaSetaphis, Trachyzelotes, Zelotes and Drassyllus (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) in Israel. Israel Journal of Zoology44 (2): 93-158.
Levy, G., 1999. The lynx and nursery-web spider families in Israel (Araneae, Oxyopidae and Pisauridae). Zoosystema (Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris)21 (1): 29-64.
Levy, G., 1999. Spiders of the genera Anagraphis and Talanites(Araneae, Gnaphosidae) from Israel.Israel Journal of Zoology45 (1): 215-225.
Levy, G., 1999. New thomisid and philodromid spiders (Araneae) from southern Israel. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 11 (5): 185-190.
Levy, G., 1999.Spiders of six uncommon drassodine genera (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) from Israel. Israel Journal of Zoology45 (4): 427-452.
Levy, G., 2002.Spiders of the genera Micaria and Aphantaulax (Araneae, Gnaphosidae) from Israel. Israel Journal of Zoology48 (2): 111-134.
Levy, G., 2003. Spiders of the families Anyphaenidae, Hahniidae, Ctenidae, Zoridae andHersiliidae (Araneae) from Israel. Israel Journal of Zoology49 (1): 1-39.
Levy, G., 2004. Spiders of the genera Drassodes and Haplodrassus (Araneae, Gnaphosidae) from Israel. Israel Journal of Zoology50 (1): 1-37.
Levy, G., 2007.Calommata (Atypidae) and new spider species (Araneae) from Israel. Zootaxa1551: 1-30.
Levy, G., 2009.New ground-spider genera and species with annexed checklist of the Gnaphosidae (Araneae) of Israel. Zootaxa 2066: 1-49.
Zonstein, S., 2008. The spider genus Zaitunia Lehtinen, 1967 (Araneae: Filistatidae) in Israel and Sinai (Egypt). Israel Journal of Entomology38: 125-131.
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