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Abstract

The Laufeia clade is a peculiar lineage of euophryine jumping spiders showing elevated divergence of male genitalic structures, especially the embolic complex that directly interacts with female genitalia during sperm transfer. With the rapid growth of species discovery in the Laufeia clade, the controversy in its classification has become a crucial problem. In this study, we applied a phylogenomic approach using ultra-conserved element data to infer the phylogeny of the Laufeia clade with extensive taxon sampling. A comparative morphological study was also performed to evaluate diagnostic characters and understand the evolution of male embolic complex within the Laufeia clade. The results provide a strongly supported phylogenetic framework and updated generic concepts for the Laufeia clade. The updated genera within the Laufeia clade were all recovered as monophyletic with well-defined synapomorphies identified through character mapping on the phylogeny. Ancestral state reconstruction analyses revealed that the Type I embolic complex was ancestral and gradually evolved into the Type II and III embolic complex, and that some shapes of embolus often evolved multiple times independently in different lineages of the Laufeia clade. The shift from foliage dwelling to tree trunk dwelling at the common ancestor of the Laufeia clade may have facilitated the divergent evolution of male embolic complex in the Laufeia clade. This study provides a solid foundation for future studies of systematics and evolution of this group.