A prominent question in animal research is how the evolution of morphology and ecology interacts in the generation of phenotypic diversity. Spiders are some of the most abundant arthropod predators in terrestrial ecosystems and exhibit a diversity of foraging styles. It remains unclear how spider body size and proportions relate to foraging style, and if the use of webs as prey capture devices correlates with changes in body characteristics. Here, we present the most extensive data set to date of morphometric and ecological traits in spiders. We used this data set to estimate the change in spider body sizes and shapes over deep time and to test if and how spider phenotypes are correlated with their behavioral ecology. We found that phylogenetic variation of most traits best fitted an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model, which is a model of stabilizing selection. A prominent exception was body length, whose evolutionary dynamics were best explained with a Brownian Motion (free trait diffusion) model. This was most expressed in the araneoid clade (ecribellate orb-weaving spiders and allies) that showed bimodal trends toward either miniaturization or gigantism. Only few traits differed significantly between ecological guilds, most prominently leg length and thickness, and although a multivariate framework found general differences in traits among ecological guilds, it was not possible to unequivocally associate a set of morphometric traits with the relative ecological mode. Long, thin legs have often evolved with aerial webs and a hanging (suspended) locomotion style, but this trend is not general. Eye size and fang length did not differ between ecological guilds, rejecting the hypothesis that webs reduce the need for visual cue recognition and prey immobilization. For the inference of the ecology of species with unknown behaviors, we propose not to use morphometric traits, but rather consult (micro-)morphological characters, such as the presence of certain podal structures. These results suggest that, in contrast to insects, the evolution of body proportions in spiders is unusually stabilized and ecological adaptations are dominantly realized by behavioral traits and extended phenotypes in this group of predators. This work demonstrates the power of combining recent advances in phylogenomics with trait-based approaches to better understand global functional diversity patterns through space and time. [Animal architecture; Arachnida; Araneae; extended phenotype; functional traits; macroevolution; stabilizing selection.].

中文翻译：

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尽管觅食生态发生马赛克变化，但蜘蛛的形态进化稳定。

动物研究中的一个突出问题是形态和生态学的进化如何在表型多样性的产生中相互作用。蜘蛛是陆地生态系统中最丰富的节肢动物捕食者之一，并表现出多种觅食方式。目前尚不清楚蜘蛛的身体大小和比例如何与觅食方式相关，以及使用网作为猎物捕获设备是否与身体特征的变化相关。在这里，我们展示了迄今为止最广泛的蜘蛛形态和生态特征数据集。我们使用这个数据集来估计蜘蛛身体大小和形状在很长一段时间内的变化，并测试蜘蛛表型是否以及如何与其行为生态学相关。我们发现大多数性状的系统发育变异最适合 Ornstein-Uhlenbeck 模型，这是一个稳定选择的模型。一个突出的例外是体长，它的进化动力学最好用布朗运动（自由特征扩散）模型来解释。这在类蛛形进化枝（ecribellate orb-weaving spiders and allies）中表现得最为明显，它们显示出向小型化或巨型化的双峰趋势。生态行会之间只有少数性状存在显着差异，最显着的是腿长和粗细，尽管多变量框架发现生态行会之间的性状存在普遍差异，但不可能明确地将一组形态特征与相对生态模式联系起来。又长又细的腿经常演变成空中网和悬挂（悬挂）运动风格，但这种趋势并不普遍。生态公会之间的眼睛大小和牙齿长度没有差异，拒绝网络减少视觉线索识别和猎物固定需求的假设。对于具有未知行为的物种的生态推断，我们建议不使用形态特征，而是参考（微）形态特征，例如某些足部结构的存在。这些结果表明，与昆虫相比，蜘蛛身体比例的进化异常稳定，生态适应主要通过这组捕食者的行为特征和扩展表型来实现。这项工作展示了将系统基因组学的最新进展与基于特征的方法相结合的力量，以更好地了解空间和时间的全球功能多样性模式。[动物建筑；蛛形纲; 蜘蛛目; 扩展表型；功能性状；宏观进化；