Ransacking the incertae sedis opilionids: a new Indo-Malayan family of Grassatores

ABEL PÉREZ GONZÁLEZ; DANIEL PROUD; ADRIANO B. KURY

Golden

Congreso; 20th International Congress of Arachnology; 2016

International Society of Arachnology

Roewer established an artificial concept of Phalangodidae by lumping together members from several harvestmen families. However, over the years, many authors took the opposite approach and instead split Roewer?s Phalangodidae to create, or revalidate, family groups. In this work, we continue to purge the Phalangodidae of poorly placed taxa and we propose that a distinct group of Indo-Malayan ?Phalangodine? constitutes a new family. The new family belongs to the infraorder Grassatores and is sister to the Southeast Asian Epedanidae based on molecular phylogenetic evidence. Based on morphological data can be divided in two new subfamilies, one including the genera Beloniscellus, Beloniscops, Belonisculus, Beloniscus and Kendengus (all previously in Phalangodidae, although Beloniscus was originally in Epedanidae) and the other including the genera Buparellus, Bupares, Buparomma. The new family is endemic to Southeast Asia and thus far contains 38 valid species. Members of the family are distinguished from epedanids (and also from all other Grassatores) by a capsula externa with dorso-medial region rigid and forming a ditch accommodating the capsula interna. Male genitalia are characterized and detailed studied in representative species, including Beloniscus quinquespinosus Thorell, 1891 and Beloniscus tricalcaratus Roewer, 1949, from Indonesia and Buparellus insolitus Suzuki, 1985, from Thailand.