Why does the Tricommatinae position bounce so much within Laniatores? A cladistic analysis, with description of a new family of Gonyleptoidea (Opiliones, Laniatores)
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Abstract
The first cladistic analysis of the T ricommatinae is presented here based on a matrix with 88 terminals and 117 characters. The subfamily, hitherto with 28 genera and 53 species, is not recovered as a clade, instead it is composed of two nonsister clades, corresponding to the two main physiognomies of T ricommatinae sensu lato : (1) most of the diversity of the T ricommatinae, including the emblematic genera C ryptogeobius M ello‐L eitão, 1935, and P seudopachylus R oewer, 1912, and (2) the less familiar species, including the type genus T ricommatus R oewer, 1912, plus a few relatives, totalling three genera with five species. The T ricommatinae sensu stricto are here reduced to their bare core, nested within G onyleptidae, whereas C ryptogeobiidae fam. nov. is more basally placed within the G onyleptoidea. The holotype and sole available material of T ricommatus brasiliensis R oewer, 1912, type species of T ricommatus , is restudied and is here redescribed and illustrated. P herania S trand, 1942, is herein considered a junior subjective synonym of T ricommatus and a key is given to the species of T ricommatus . V oriax gen. nov. of T ricommatinae is described along with the type species V oriax popeye sp. nov. , an unusual species from B ahia, showing strange sexual dimorphism. Some changes have been introduced in the taxonomy of C ryptogeobiidae: (1) 13 genera are synonymized (two of them, B erlesecaptus M ello‐L eitão, 1940, and Simonoleptes , originally in Phalangodidae); (2) 18 new combinations are made; (3) a neotype is designated for the type species B erlesecaptus convexus M ello‐L eitão, 1940; (4) a new miniature species, P aratricommatus lockei sp. nov. , is described from an area of conservation, R eserva E cológica de G uapi‐A çu, in R io de J aneiro state, south‐eastern B razil. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London
