Spiders (Araneae) are a megadiverse group of arthropods, present in all terrestrial ecosystems as top predators, playing a crucial role as main controllers of insect populations. Among the more than 47,000 described species of spiders, the perhaps most emblematic ones are the orb weaver spiders,...
The genus Leucauge (Tetragnathidae, Leucauginae) includes 174 described species from the tropical and subtropical regions of all continents with the exception of Europe and Antarctica. In this dissertation, evolutionary questions at different hierarchical levels are explored using the spider...