Taxonomic notes on African (Mozambique & Madagascar) Biantidae (Opiliones, Laniatores)

VANESA MAMANI; MERLIJN JOCQUE; ABEL PÉREZ GONZÁLEZ

Montevideo

Congreso; International Congress of Arachnology; 2023

The Opiliones Biantinae (18 genera and 107 species) have important diversity in Africa (17genera and 82 species); however, the opiliofauna of many African regions remains poorlyknown. For all Mozambique only one endemic biantid (Tetebius latibunus) and three species(M. leighi, M. zuluanus, M. traegardhi), originally described from South Africa, have beenrecorded so far. Herein we proposed a new species of Metabiantes collected in Niassa,Mozambique. This new species has a peculiar sexual dimorphism: males have the leg II withvery broad femur and tibia, and also have a ventrally granulated metatarsus. This dimorphismwas previously known only from two other African species, Metabiantes machadoi andClinobiantes paradoxus; the new species is distinguished from them both by characteristics ofexternal and genital morphology. It is therefore the second biantid endemic to Mozambique.The previous endemic one, Tetebius latibunus, was a poorly known species, but theexamination of the type specimen allowed us to access important morphological features andpresent herein a detailed redescription. Previously considered in Phalangodidae and Samoidae,the male genital morphology agrees with the recent transference to Biantidae. Moreover, thepresence of two wide "titillators'' with numerous internal finger-like projections and aneversible style surrounded by two lamellar conductors together with a long lamina apicalis andtwo groups of apical and basal macrosetae, besides the external morphology, support that iscongeneric with the Malagasy species Malgaceros boviceps herein also redescribed. Therefore,we propose the new synonymy of Malgaceros with Tetebius and the new combination Tetebiusboviceps.