ABSTRACT
Asymmetrical rates of cladogenesis and extinction abound in the Tree of Life, resulting in numerous minute clades that are dwarfed by larger sister groups. Such taxa are commonly regarded as phylogenetic relicts or "living fossils" when they exhibit an ancient first appearance in the fossil record and prolonged external morphological stasis, particularly in comparison to their more diversified sister groups. Due to their special status, various phylogenetic relicts tend to be well-studied and prioritized for conservation. A notable exception to this trend is found within Amblypygi ("whip spiders"), a visually striking order of functionally hexapodous arachnids that are notable for their antenniform first walking leg pair (the eponymous "whips"). Paleoamblypygi, the putative sister group to the remaining Amblypygi, is known from Late Carboniferous and Eocene deposits, but is survived by a single living species, Paracharon caecus Hansen, 1921, that was last collected in 1899. Due to the absence of genomic sequence-grade tissue for this vital taxon, there is no global molecular phylogeny for Amblypygi to date, nor a fossil-calibrated estimation of divergences within the group. Here, we report a previously unknown species of Paleoamblypygi from a cave site in Colombia. Capitalizing upon this discovery, we generated the first molecular phylogeny of Amblypygi, integrating ultraconserved element sequencing with legacy Sanger datasets and including described extant genera. To quantify the impact of sampling Paleoamblypygi on divergence time estimation, we performed in silico experiments with pruning of Paracharon. We demonstrate that the omission of relicts has a significant impact on the accuracy of node dating approaches that outweighs the impact of excluding ingroup fossils, which bears upon the ancestral range reconstruction for the group. Our results underscore the imperative for biodiversity discovery efforts in elucidating the phylogenetic relationships of "dark taxa", and especially phylogenetic relicts in tropical and subtropical habitats. The lack of reciprocal monophyly for Charontidae and Charinidae leads us to subsume them into one family, Charontidae, new synonymy.
ABSTRACT
As a result of an expedition to Ecuador in 2014, a new species of mite harvestman was discovered. This new species belonging to the genus Metagovea Rosas Costa, 1950 - Metagovealigiae sp. n. - is described, based on male and female specimens from Napo Province, Ecuador. This is the fourth species described for the genus and the second from Ecuador. A simple terminology is proposed for the microtrichiae of the spermatopositor and genital characters in the family are discussed. The genus Brasiliogovea Martens, 1969 is consistently misspelled in the literature as Brasilogovea. The description of Metagovealigiae offered opportunity to discuss some aspects of systematics of the family.
ABSTRACT
Twelve larvae of unidentified species of Odontacarus Ewing, 1929 (Acari: Leeuwenhoekiidae) were found parasitising an adult male whip spider Charinus brasilianus Weygoldt (Charinidae) in Santa Teresa, mountainous region of Espirito Santo state, southeastern Brazil. These larvae occurred in the intersegmental membrane of prosoma and legs. This is the first report of ectoparasitic mites infecting a charinid whip spider and the first record of leeuwenhoekiid mites parasitising an invertebrate host. We suggest that future studies are essential to understand the reasons why these events of parasitism are so rare in the order Amblypygi.
Subject(s)
Arachnida/parasitology , Mites/classification , Mites/ultrastructure , Animals , Brazil , Host-Parasite Interactions , MaleABSTRACT
Three new species of the genus Ananteris Thorell have been discovered in Brazil. Ananteris desiderio sp. n., Ananteris camacan sp. n. and Ananteris infuscata sp. n. are respectively described from specimens collected in the regions of São Desidério, Camacã, Rebio UNA and Jequié in the state of Bahia, and Grão Mogol and Novo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. New records are also proposed for Ananteris luciae Lourenço, Ananteris mauryi Lourenço and Ananteris franckei Lourenço. The number of known Ananteris species known in the scorpion fauna of Brazil is now raised to 24.
Subject(s)
Scorpions/anatomy & histology , Scorpions/classification , Animals , Brazil , Female , MaleABSTRACT
The genus Heterophrynus is for the first time recorded from Transandean areas. Heterophrynus boterorum sp. nov. and Heterophrynus silviae sp. nov. are described respectively from Tolima and Valle del Cauca departments, Colombia, based on material from the 2006 Arachnological Expedition of Museu Nacional to Colombia. Heterophrynus nicefori Amado & Morales, 1986, from Meta department is newly considered a junior subjective synonym of Phrynus batesii Butler, 1873 (currently in Heterophrynus). Heterophrynus is currently known from Amazon forest, Brazilian Cerrado, Littoral Ridge of Venezuela and Andean forests. A revised terminology is proposed for the constituent parts of male and female gonopods of Heterophrynus.
Subject(s)
Spiders/anatomy & histology , Spiders/classification , Animal Distribution , Animals , Colombia , Female , Male , Species Specificity , Spiders/physiologyABSTRACT
A new species of the genus Sarax Simon, 1892 is described from Panay Island, Philippines. Sarax curioi sp. n. is the second species of the genus from the country and can be distinguished from the other Philippine species (Sarax brachydactylus Simon, 1892) by the sclerotized granules of the pedipalp surface, the spines of the pedipalp distitibia, the number of denticles of the chelicerae claw and the shape of the denticles of the chelicerae basal segment. Sarax newbritainensis Rahmadi and Kojima, 2010 is newly recorded from New Ireland Island, Papua New Guinea.
