Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Size Evolution in the Spider Genus Megaraneus Lawrence, 1968 (Araneae: Araneidae)

Among terrestrial animals, spiders exhibit the most striking examples of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) but better understanding of its evolution requires improved taxonomy and phylogeny. Many sexually dimorphic spiders lack adequate description, phylogenetic placement, and natural history observations. In South Africa, we documented the natural history of a poorly known spider, <i>Megaraneus gabonensis</i> (Lucas, 1858), with extreme, female-biased SSD (eSSD, female:male approximately 4:1). Here, we redescribe <i>M. gabonensis</i>, place <i>Megaraneus</i> Lawrence, 1968 phylogenetically for the first time, assess whether the observed eSSD represents an independent evolutionary origin, and test whether the macroevolutionary pattern is better explained by male dwarfism or female gigantism. The recovered phylogenetic placement of <i>Megaraneus</i> in the araneid 'backobourkiines', a clade previously considered as restricted to East Asia and Australasia, extends the range of this clade to the Afrotropics. We find that eSSD was present in the common ancestor of the 'backobourkiines', with further increases in female body length occurring independently in <i>Megaraneus</i>, <i>Backobourkia</i> Framenau, Dupérré, Blackledge & Vink, 2010, and the currently misplaced <i>Parawixia dehaani</i> (Doleschall, 1859). We conclude that the evolution of eSSD reflects a complex pattern of sex-specific size changes across spider phylogeny, but that in <i>Megaraneus</i> it results from female gigantism.