Data from: High species diversity of Phintella and Phintella-like spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) in Vietnam revealed by DNA-based species delimitation analyses

Salticidae (jumping spiders) usually exhibit pronounced sexual dimorphism
in adult morphology, particularly body coloration and size and shape of
the first legs. Consequently, the male and female from the same species
might be erroneously assigned to different species or even different
genera, which could generate synonymies in classification if only
morphological data were used. Phintella is a species-rich genus of
Salticidae, which currently exhibits 76 named species. However, the
male–female counterpart is unknown for nearly half of the species. In this
study, we used a molecular approach to delineate the species boundaries
for Phintella and Phintella-like specimens collected in Vietnam, using
morphological information as supporting data. We used three gene fragments
(mitochondrial COI, 16S-ND1, and nuclear 28S) and biogeographical
consideration for species delimitation. A total of 22 putative species
were recognized: 18 species of the genus Phintella, one species of the
genus Lechia (L. squamata), and three species of the genus Phinteloides.
Eleven undescribed species were discovered, of which seven have a
male–female combination, two species have only males, and two species have
only females. The crown age of Phintella was estimated at the Serravallian
stage of the Miocene after the increase of species number around 16 MYA.
The crown ages of most putative species recognized in this study were
estimated in Pleistocene, and the divergence among sister species likely
occurred from the mid-Miocene to the Pliocene. Our ancestral range
reconstruction results showed that the diversification of our ingroup was
governed by progressive dispersal events, i.e., Phintella and their
related species in Vietnam diversified while expanding their range on the
continent. Our results provide fundamental biodiversity data for a
high-diversity genus in Vietnamese Phintella spiders.