Why does the Tricommatinae position bounce so much within Laniatores? A cladistic analysis, with description of a new family of Gonyleptoidea (Opiliones, Laniatores)

Abstract

The first cladistic analysis of the Tricommatinae 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 Tricommatinae sensu lato: (1) most of the diversity of the Tricommatinae, including the emblematic genera Cryptogeobius Mello-Leitão, 1935, and Pseudopachylus Roewer, 1912, and (2) the less familiar species, including the type genus Tricommatus Roewer, 1912, plus a few relatives, totalling three genera with five species. The Tricommatinae sensu stricto are here reduced to their bare core, nested within Gonyleptidae, whereas Cryptogeobiidae fam. nov. is more basally placed within the Gonyleptoidea. The holotype and sole available material of Tricommatus brasiliensis Roewer, 1912, type species of Tricommatus, is restudied and is here redescribed and illustrated. Pherania Strand, 1942, is herein considered a junior subjective synonym of Tricommatus and a key is given to the species of Tricommatus. Voriax gen. nov. of Tricommatinae is described along with the type species Voriax popeye sp. nov., an unusual species from Bahia, showing strange sexual dimorphism. Some changes have been introduced in the taxonomy of Cryptogeobiidae: (1) 13 genera are synonymized (two of them, Berlesecaptus Mello-Leitão, 1940, and Simonoleptes, originally in Phalangodidae); (2) 18 new combinations are made; (3) a neotype is designated for the type species Berlesecaptus convexus Mello-Leitão, 1940; (4) a new miniature species, Paratricommatus lockei sp. nov., is described from an area of conservation, Reserva Ecológica de Guapi-Açu, in Rio de Janeiro state, south-eastern Brazil. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London