Benjamin Klementz

Benjamin Klementz
University of Wisconsin–Madison | UW · Department of Zoology

Bachelor of Science

About

14
Publications
3,893
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43
Citations
Introduction
I'm broadly interested in the evolution and development of chelicerate appendages, using Opiliones and representative arachnopulmonates (spiders, scorpions, whipscorpions) as my primary systems. The impacts of specific genes on appendage development are assessed using predominantly RNAi-mediated knockdowns and fluorescent in situ hybridization (HCR).
Education
September 2018 - May 2022
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Field of study
  • Wildlife Ecology

Publications

Publications (14)
Article
Within the arachnids, chromosome-level genome assemblies have greatly accelerated the understanding of gene family evolution and developmental genomics in key groups, such as spiders (Araneae), mites and ticks (Acariformes and Parasitiformes). Among other poorly studied arachnid orders that lack genome assemblies altogether are the clade Pedipalpi,...
Preprint
Full-text available
Within the arachnids, chromosome-level genome assemblies have greatly accelerated the understanding of gene family evolution and developmental genomics in key groups, such as spiders (Araneae), mites and ticks (Acariformes and Parasitiformes). Among other poorly studied arachnid orders that lack genome assemblies altogether are the clade Pedipalpi,...
Article
Full-text available
Neofunctionalization of duplicated gene copies is thought to be an important process underlying the origin of evolutionary novelty and provides an elegant mechanism for the origin of new phenotypic traits. One putative case where a new gene copy has been linked to a novel morphological trait is the origin of the arachnid patella, a taxonomically re...
Article
Neofunctionalization of duplicated gene copies is thought to be an important process underlying the origin of evolutionary novelty and provides an elegant mechanism for the origin of new phenotypic traits. One putative case where a new gene copy has been linked to a novel morphological trait is the origin of the arachnid patella, a taxonomically re...
Article
Full-text available
The chelicerate body plan is distinguished from other arthropod groups by its division of segments into 2 tagmata: the anterior prosoma (“cephalothorax”) and the posterior opisthosoma (“abdomen”). Little is understood about the genetic mechanisms that establish the prosomal-opisthosomal (PO) boundary. To discover these mechanisms, we created high-q...
Preprint
Full-text available
Neofunctionalization of duplicated gene copies is thought to be an important process underlying the origin of evolutionary novelty and provides an elegant mechanism for the origin of new phenotypic traits. One putative case where a new gene copy has been linked to a novel morphological trait is the origin of the arachnid patella, a taxonomically re...
Article
Vestigial organs provide a link between ancient and modern traits and therefore have great potential to resolve the phylogeny of contentious fossils that bear features not seen in extant species. Here we show that extant daddy-longlegs (Arachnida, Opiliones), a group once thought to possess only one pair of eyes, in fact additionally retain a pair...
Article
Full-text available
Recent advances in higher-level invertebrate phylogeny have leveraged shared features of genomic architecture to resolve contentious nodes across the tree of life. Yet, the interordinal relationships within Chelicerata have remained recalcitrant given competing topologies in recent molecular analyses. As such, relationships between topologically un...
Article
The armored harvestman family Assamiidae (Arachnida: Opiliones: Laniatores) is widely distributed throughout the Old World tropics, specifically throughout tropical Asia and Central Africa. However, the systematics and intrafamilial relationships of the group remain poorly understood. This can be largely attributed to the complicated taxonomic hist...
Preprint
Full-text available
The chelicerate body plan is distinguished from other arthropod groups by its division of segments into two tagmata: the anterior prosoma (cephalothorax) and the posterior opisthosoma (abdomen). Little is understood about the genetic mechanisms that establish the prosomal-opisthosomal (PO) boundary. To discover these mechanisms, we created high-qua...
Article
Full-text available
Despite an abundance of gene expression surveys, comparatively little is known about Hox gene function in Chelicerata. Previous investigations of paralogs of labial (lab) and Deformed (Dfd) in a spider have shown that these play a role in tissue maintenance of the pedipalpal segment (lab-1) and in patterning the first walking leg identity (Dfd-1),...
Preprint
Full-text available
Despite an abundance of gene expression surveys, comparatively little is known about Hox gene function in Chelicerata, with emphasis on the Hox logic of the anterior prosomal segments, which bear the mouthparts. Previous investigations of individual paralogs of labial ( lab ) and Deformed ( Dfd ) in the spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum have shown t...
Article
Full-text available
Background The comparative embryology of Chelicerata has greatly advanced in recent years with the integration of classical studies and genetics, prominently spearheaded by developmental genetic works in spiders. Nonetheless, the understanding of the evolution of development and polarization of embryological characters in Chelicerata is presently l...

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