Abstract
The genera Tyrannochthonius Chamberlin, 1929 and Nesocheiridium Beier, 1957 are recorded from the Tonga Islands, Polynesia, for the first time. Tyrannochthonius euasp. nov. is described from the island of Eua. Nesocheiridium onevaisp. nov. is described from the island of Onevai. This is the first discovery of a representative of the genus Nesocheiridium in more than 60 years. The holotype of the type species, Nesocheiridium stellatum Beier, 1957, is redescribed, allowing a better understanding of this poorly known genus. The genus Nesocheiridium is diagnosed by the following combination of characters: integument coarsely granulate, dorsally granulo-reticulate; vestitural setae either relatively long, with a leaf-like outline, or arcuate with a small spine; cucullus short; only 10 abdominal tergites visible in dorsal view; cheliceral rallum of four blades; venom apparatus present in both chelal fingers; fixed chelal finger with granulate swelling mesally and seven trichobothria; trichobothria ib and ist located distad of granulate swelling; eb and esb situated close together at the base of the finger; moveable chelal finger with two trichobothria.
Highlights
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising more than a thousand islands spread across the central and southern Pacific Ocean
Hand without spine-like seta, dorsal surface with a single row of five chemosensory setae between trichobothria esb and ib/isb; hand and fixed chelal finger together with eight trichobothria, moveable chelal finger with four trichobothria; ib and isb close together, submedially on dorsum of chelal hand; eb and esb close together, at base of fixed finger; ist distal to eb and esb; it and est less than one areolar diameter apart, it slightly distal to est; et near tip of finger; trichobothrium st of moveable finger sub-basally; sb slightly closer to st than to b; b and t subdistally, t at same level as it; b slightly basal to est
The original description of the genus Nesocheiridium was based on a single male of N. stellatum
Summary
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising more than a thousand islands spread across the central and southern Pacific Ocean. During an expedition to collect invertebrates in Oceania in 1980, a few pseudoscorpions were collected on the Tonga Islands. The Kingdom of Tonga comprises 169 islands, stretching approximately 800 km in a north-south line in Polynesia, flanked by Fiji to the northwest and Samoa to the northeast. Except for New Zealand (Harvey 2013), only a few works have dealt with the pseudoscorpions of this region (With 1907; Kästner 1927; Beier 1932, 1940; Chamberlin 1939a, b; Muchmore 1979, 1983, 1989, 1993, 2000; Harvey 2000). Two species are added here, belonging to the genera Tyrannochthonius Chamberlin, 1929 and Nesocheiridium Beier, 1957
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