Global expansion of a solitary‐social tropical spitting spider shaped by multiple long‐distance dispersals

The spitting spider Scytodes fusca is a species complex well known for its unusual hunting technique which involves venomous sticky silken substance over prey. Previous studies supposed that S. was native to Central and South America but had expanded the tropics of almost every continent. We aimed test hypothesis Neotropical origin this followed by secondary dispersal other regions, discuss how population expansion occurring in driven. investigated structure spatiotemporal biogeography through culmination 22 years comprehensive global sampling using mitochondrial nuclear loci (COI, 16S, 18S, 28S, H3 ITS2). divided into two clades. One clade comprises haplotypes from Australasian regions haplotype Baja Peninsula, Mexico. composed all analyzed including Asia, Australia, Americas Madagascar. Populations Madagascar exhibit lower genetic diversity compared with population, both have different demographic histories. initial divergence within started during early Miocene. Diversifications clades occurred late recently widely dispersed Southeast Our results elucidate history spread complex, suggesting Malay Archipelago origin, routes multiple dispersals Americas. These stem common source as Fiji, French Polynesia or Turks Caicos bridgeheads. data support view Australasia facilitated long-distance jump events.