title: Broad patterns of speciation are correlated with the evolution of new silk proteins in spiders but not in the lepidoptera.
abstract: Silk synthesis is an ancestral character of both the Lepidoptera and the Araneae. Araneae evolution is marked by an increased commitment to a silk-producing physiology. At least three major Araneae speciation events are correlated with the evolution of new silk-producing glands and new silk proteins. In contrast, although 98% of the Lepidoptera produce silk, there appears to be no relationship between silk use, protein types, and species numbers. The differences in these two systems, both meeting a need to produce a large volume of protein, may reflect predictable resource availability to herbivorous Lepidoptera larvae but fluctuating resource availability to carnivorous spiders.
authors.affiliation: Museum of Cooperative Zoology, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. ccraig@oeb.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Catherine L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Craig
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D007915:Lepidoptera / Q000235:genetics*; D047011:Silk / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013112:Spiders / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D047011:Silk