Dr. Bernhard A. Huber

Head of Arachnida Section and Curator

Arachnids

Tel: +49 228 9122-294

Fax: +49 228 9122-212

Mail: b.huber [at] leibniz-zfmk.de

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Profile

Research interests

Sexual selection in spiders
Function and evolution of copulatory organs in spiders and other arthropods
Systematics and biology of pholcid spiders (daddy-longleg spiders)

External websites and profiles

http://www.pholcidae.de

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bernhard_Huber

Projects

2019

Evolution of Ninetinae

This project focuses on the spider subfamily Ninetinae, tiny cryptic ground-dwellers that are largely restricted to arid habitats. They seem to be ‘basal’ within Pholcidae and thus crucial for reconstructing the evolutionary history of the family.

Unit:

Arachnids, Molecular Laboratory

Project lead:

Dr. Bernhard A. Huber

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

2018

Establishing a standardized and universally applicable set of nuclear-encoded markers for genome-wide multi-locus species delimitation of metazoans

Methods for delimiting species based on multi-gene nucleotide information are well established and provide the means to complement the classical COI barcoding approach, whose limitations are well known. Our research project aims at establishing a standardized set of single-copy nuclear-encoded markers for genome-wide multi-locus species delimitation by exploiting comparative genomic data and applying target DNA enrichment. Candidate markers are so-called Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (USCOs).

Unit:

Coleoptera, Arachnids, Statistical Phylogenetics and Phylogenomics, Staff Council, Directorate, Chair Systematic Zoology, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Molecular Laboratory, Centre for Molecular Biodiversity Research (zmb), Myriapoda, Diptera

Project lead:

Dr. Dirk Ahrens

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

The pholcid spider collection of González-Sponga

Between 1998 and 2011, the Venezuelan arachnologist Manuel Ángel González-Sponga created a total of 22 new genera for Venezuelan pholcids. Previous efforts to evaluate González-Sponga’s genera were hampered by the inaccessibility of his private collection. As a result, work on Venezuelan pholcid spiders has been almost impossible. After González-Sponga’s death in 2009, his collection was transferred to the Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola in Maracay. The aim of the present project is to initiate collaboration on Venezuelan pholcid spiders and to draft a joint collaborative project on Venezuelan pholcid spider taxonomy and systematics.

Unit:

Arachnids

Project lead:

Dr. Bernhard A. Huber

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

2016

Egg parasitism in pholcid spiders

Pholcid spider females carry their egg-sacs with their mouthparts until the spiderlings hatch and it is probably for this reason that the eggs are not densely covered by a protective layer of silk as in most other spider families. It seems that few egg parasites have managed to access these protected eggs of Pholcidae. During recent trips in SE Asia several new cases of egg-parasitism in Pholcidae were discovered that will be described in this project.

Unit:

Arachnids

Project lead:

Dr. Bernhard A. Huber

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development

2014

Southeast Asian pholcid spiders

This project focuses on three major questions : (1) how do Southeast Asian taxa fit into the phylogeny of Pholcidae? (2) Are patterns of diversity and distribution comparable to those in New World and African regions? (3) Is there evidence for a causal relationship between evolutionary shifts among microhabitats and species diversity (adaptive speciation)?

Unit:

Arachnids

Project lead:

Dr. Bernhard A. Huber

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Revision of Holocneminus

The Southeast Asian and Pacific genus Holocneminus Berland is here revised for the first time, including analyses of phylogenetic relationships within the genus and with putative close relatives.

Unit:

Arachnids

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Asymmetry in Panjange

While asymmetric genitalia are very common in insects, they are extremely rare in spiders. This project studies a species group of Panjange spiders from the southern Philippines that has only recently been discovered and in which all species have asymmetric genitalia.

Unit:

Arachnids

Project lead:

Dr. Bernhard A. Huber

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Global pholcid spider diversity

Ratios of known to unknown pholcid spider species collected around the world suggest that only about 20% of the species have been described. Current efforts concentrate on Southeast Asia and Brazil.

Unit:

Arachnids

Project lead:

Dr. Bernhard A. Huber

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development

2013

Harvestmen genitalia

Harvestmen genitalia are often complex structures that vary among species but little is known about their functioning. We investigate mating behavior, genital morphology as well as interactions of male and female genitalia using histology and X-Ray microtomography of cryo-fixed pairs.

Unit:

Arachnids

Project lead:

Rachel Werneck

Funding:

German Academic Exchange Service

Hotspot Atlantic Forest

Recent collecting trips in the Brazilian Amazon Forest have revealed an extraordinarily rich pholcid fauna. This project aims at documenting this diversity, at exploring its relationships with the faunas of other South American regions, and at comparing diversity and distribution patterns with those in the Brazilian Amazon.

Unit:

Arachnids

Project lead:

Dr. Bernhard A. Huber

Funding:

National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig

2012

A Caribbean radiation

The genus Modisimus has experienced a strong radiation in the Caribbean, but most species remain undescribed. This project is part of a large NSF-Project (PIs: Ingi Agnarsson and Greta Binford) on Caribbean Biogeography.

Unit:

Arachnids

Project lead:

Dr. Bernhard A. Huber

Funding:

National Science Foundation

2011

GBOL- German Barcode of Life

"German Barcode of Life" ( GBOL ) is a project sponsored by the BMBF and includes the creation of inventories for the gentic characterization of the animals, fungi and plants of germany, using DNA-Barcodes.

Project lead:

Prof. Dr. J. Wolfgang Wägele

Funding:

Federal Ministry of Education and Research

2010

Revision of Smeringopina

With leg spans of up to 18 cm, some Smeringopina species are the largest known pholcids. Nevertheless, the genus is very poorly known and recent expeditions to Guinea, Cameroon, and Gabon have provided more than 30 new species.

Unit:

Arachnids

Project lead:

Dr. Bernhard A. Huber

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Publications

Published in

2024

Huber BA, Meng G, Cabra García J, Carvalho LS. 2024. Thriving in dry conditions: on the Neotropical spider genus Galapa (Araneae: Pholcidae). Zootaxa 5419: 301-347. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5419.3.1

[more]

Huber BA, Meng G, Dederichs TM, Michalik P, Forman M, Král J. 2024. Castaways: the Leeward Antilles endemic spider genus Papiamenta (Araneae: Pholcidae). Invertebrate Systematics 38: IS23052. https://doi.org/10.1071/IS23052

[more]

Huber BA, Meng G, Valdez-Mondragón A. 2024. Notes on Chisosa (Araneae: Pholcidae), with the description of a new species from Mexico. Zootaxa 5419: 217-244. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5419.2.3

[more]

2023

Dietz, L., Eberle, J., Mayer, C., Kukowka, S., Bohacz, C., Baur, H., Espeland, M., Huber, B.A., Hutter, C., Mengual, X., Peters, R.S., Vences, M., Wesener, T., Willmott, K., Misof, B., Niehuis, O., Ahrens, D., 2023. Standardized nuclear markers improve and homogenize species delimitation in Metazoa. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 14, 543-555 https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14041

[more]

Huber BA, Meng G, A Váldez-Mondragón, Král J, Ávila Herrera IM, Carvalho LS. 2023. Short-legged daddy-long-leg spiders in North America: the genera Pholcophora and Tolteca (Araneae, Pholcidae). European Journal of Taxonomy 880: 1-89. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2023.880.2173

[more]

Huber BA, Meng G, Clark HL, Cazanove G. 2023. First blind daddy long-legs spiders from Australia and Réunion (Araneae, Pholcidae). Subterranean Biology 46: 1-19. https://doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.46.105798

[more]

Huber BA, Meng G, Dupérré N, Herrera M, Inclán D, Wipfler B. 2023. Humpback spiders from Ecuador: relationships, prosoma ‘inflation’, and genital asymmetry (Araneae: Pholcidae: Mecolaesthus). Invertebrate Systematics 37: 117-151. https://doi.org/10.1071/IS22052

[more]

Huber BA, Meng G, Král J, Ávila Herrera IM, Izquierdo MA, Carvalho LS. 2023. High and dry: integrative taxonomy of the Andean spider genus Nerudia (Araneae: Pholcidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 198: 534-591. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac100

[more]

Huber BA, Meng G. 2023. On the mysterious Seychellois endemic spider genus Cenemus (Araneae, Pholcidae). Arthropod Systematics and Phylogeny 81: 179-200. https://doi.org/10.3897/asp.81.e86793

[more]

Huber, B.A., Meng, G., Dupérré, N., Astrin, J.J., Herrera, M. (2023): Andean giants: Priscula spiders from Ecuador, with notes on species groups and egg-sac troglomorphism (Araneae: Pholcidae). - European Journal of Taxonomy, 909, 1-63.

[more]

Links:

https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2023.909.2351

2022

Dederichs TM, Huber BA, Michalik P. 2022. Evolutionary morphology of sperm in pholcid spiders (Pholcidae, Synspermiata). BMC Zoology 7: 52. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-022-00148-3

[more]

Dietz L., Eberle J., Kukowka S., Mayer C., Bohacz C., Baur, H., Espeland M., Huber B., Hutter, C., Mengual X., Peters R.S., Vences M., Wesener T., Willmott K., Misof B., Niehuis O., Ahrens D. (2022) Standardized nuclear markers improve and homogenize species delimitation in Metazoa. Methods in Ecology and Evolution

[more]

Huber BA. 2022. Revisions of Holocnemus and Crossopriza: the spotted-leg clade of Smeringopinae (Araneae, Pholcidae). European Journal of Taxonomy 795: 1-241. doi:10.5852/ejt.2022.795.1663

[more]

Huber BA, Acurio AE. 2022. Are introduced spiders displacing native species on Galápagos? Observations on pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae). Arachnology 19: 191-198. https://doi.org/10.13156/arac.2022.19.sp1.191

[more]

Huber, B.A., Meng, G., Acurio, A.E., Astrin, J.J., Inclán, D.J., Izquierdo, M. and Valdez-Mondragón, A. (2022): Metagonia spiders of Galápagos: blind cave-dwellers and their epigean relatives (Araneae, Pholcidae). - Invertebrate Systematics 36, 647-678.

[more]

Links:

https://doi.org/10.1071/IS21082

Král J, Ávila Herrera IM, Šťáhlavský F, Sadílek D, Pavelka J, Chatzaki M, Huber BA. 2022. Karyotype differentiation and male meiosis in European clades of the spider genus Pholcus (Araneae, Pholcidae). Comparative Cytogenetics 16(4): 185-209. https://doi.org/10.3897/compcytogen.v16i4.85059

[more]

Mammola S, Pavlek M, Huber BA, Isaia M, Ballarin F, Tolve M, Čupic I, Hesselberg T, Lunghi E, Mouron S, Graco-Roza C, Cardoso P. 2022. A trait database and updated checklist for European subterranean spiders. Scientific Data 9: 236. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01316-3

[more]

2021

Ávila Herrera IM, Král J, Pastuchová M, Forman M, Musilová J, Kořínková T, Štáhlavský F, Zrzavá M, Nguyen P, Just P, Haddad CR, Hiřman M, Koubová M, Sadílek D, Huber BA. 2021. Evolutionary pattern of karyotypes and meiosis in pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae): implications for reconstructing chromosome evolution of araneomorph spiders. BMC Ecology and Evolution 21. 75. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-021-01750-8

[more]

Ahrens, D. ., Ahyong, S. T. ., Ballerio, A. ., Barclay, M. V. L. ., Eberle, J. ., Espeland, M. ., Huber, B. A. ., Mengual, X. ., Pacheco, T. L. ., Peters, R. S. ., Rulik, B. ., Vaz-De-Mello, F. ., Wesener, T. . & Krell, F.-T. . (2021) “Is it time to describe new species without diagnoses?—A comment on Sharkey et al. (2021)”, Zootaxa 5027(2): 151–159. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.1.

[more]

Links:

[PDF-Link] Open Access

Huber BA. 2021. Beyond size: sexual dimorphisms in pholcid spiders. Arachnology 18: 656-677. https://doi.org/10.13156/arac.2020.18.7.656

[more]

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Dr. Bernhard A. Huber

Tabs

Research interests

External websites and profiles

2019

Evolution of Ninetinae

2018

Establishing a standardized and universally applicable set of nuclear-encoded markers for genome-wide multi-locus species delimitation of metazoans

The pholcid spider collection of González-Sponga

2016

Egg parasitism in pholcid spiders

2014

Southeast Asian pholcid spiders

Revision of Holocneminus

Asymmetry in Panjange

Global pholcid spider diversity

2013

Harvestmen genitalia

Hotspot Atlantic Forest

2012

A Caribbean radiation

2011

GBOL- German Barcode of Life

2010

Revision of Smeringopina

2024

2023

2022

2021

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Dr. Bernhard A. Huber

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Research interests

External websites and profiles

2019

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2016

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2013

2012

2011

2010

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2024

2023

2022

2021

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