DOI: 10.3897/asp.81.e85571

Authors: Andrés F. García, Osvaldo Villarreal

Abstract: A morphological cladistic analysis, consisting of 45 terminals and 58 characters was performed to evaluate the monophyly of the genus Paravima Caporiacco, 1951, and its relationship to other Leiosteninae. The analysis resulted in two most parsimonious trees, all recovering Paravima as monophyletic with the inclusion of two species formerly described in Avima Roewer, 1949, therefore, the following nomenclatural acts are herein proposed: Paravima plana (Goodnight & Goodnight, 1949) comb. nov., and Paravima quirozi (González-Sponga, 1981) comb. nov., Avima vigirima (Villarreal-M & Rodríguez-Manzanilla, 2003) is here considered as a junior subjective synonym of P. quirozi (González-Sponga, 1981) comb. nov., Paravima acanthoconus Villarreal-Manzanilla & DoNascimiento, 2005 is here considered as a junior subjective synonym of Paravima propespelunca González-Sponga, 1987, and Paravima flumencaurimarensis González-Sponga, 1987 is here considered as a junior subjective synonym of Paravima goodnightorum Caporiacco, 1951. Additionally, three new species are described: P. lokura sp. nov. (Tamá National Natural Park, Norte de Santander department) and P. magistri sp. nov. (Los Tunos Natural Reserve, Cundinamarca department), both from Colombia; and P. totoro sp. nov. (Henri Pittier National Park, Aragua state) from Venezuela. Finally, an emended generic diagnosis, a key for all the species, and a distributional map are presented.

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DOI: 10.3897/asp.80.e73829

Authors: Alípio Rezende Benedetti, Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha

Abstract: Metasarcidae Kury, 1994 (Gonyleptoidea) is exclusively distributed in the Andean region of South America, from northern Peru to southern Bolivia. This contribution reviews the family using traditional taxonomy and cladistics. The cladistic analysis is based on total evidence (TE), maximum likelihood (ML) and direct optimization of molecular and morphological characters. The data matrix is composed of DNA sequences from three mitochondrial loci (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA and COI), from two nuclear loci (28S rRNA and H3) and 68 phenotypic characters. The dataset consists of 25 ingroup terminals (representing 20 species of the family) and eight outgroup species. The parsimony analysis resulted in one most parsimonious tree (L=4910) that recovered a monophyletic Metasarcidae, sister-group of Cosmetidae. As a result of the taxonomic revision and cladistic hypothesis, a new classification is proposed with six genera and 38 valid species of Metasarcidae, of which two genera and 20 species are described for the first time. Additionally, the following are established: six generic name synonymies; four species synonymies; seven new species combinations; and three secondary homonym species names replaced.

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DOI: 10.3897/asp.79.e66321

Authors: Nícolas Eugenio de Vasconcelos Saraiva, Marcos Ryotaro Hara, Marcio Bernardino DaSilva

Abstract: Abstract Opiliones are highly diverse in the Neotropics. Because of biological constraints, most harvestmen communities are associated with humid forests, exhibiting a high species diversity and endemism in these habitats. Drier formations, such as the Caatinga biome in northeastern Brazil, are less diverse and still considered under-sampled for the order. This study represents an effort to examine the aforementioned diversity by describing a new Gonyleptidae genus, Sertaneja gen. nov., comprising two new species from Ceará state, Sertaneja bicuspidata sp. nov. and Sertaneja crassitibialis sp. nov., and one new species from Rio Grande do Norte state, Sertaneja falcata sp. nov. A morphological cladistic analysis consisting of 20 terminals and 72 characters was performed to evaluate monophyly of the new genus and relate it to other Gonyleptidae. The analysis resulted in a single most parsimonious tree, corroborating Sertaneja gen. nov. monophyly and relatedness to Gyndoides springmanni Soares & Soares, 1947, which in turn is the sister group to the DRMN clade. Taking into account the morphological traits and phylogenetic placement of Sertaneja gen. nov., we chose to place the new genus in Pachylinae despite its polyphyletic status, given that the Sertaneja gen. nov. clade is closely related to one of the Brazilian Pachylinae lineage. A resolution to the Pachylinae conundrum is needed to further explain the subfamily intricacies. Future research requires a larger scope, but currently, based on the new genus monophyly, support, and relatedness, we formally propose its creation and hope to shed light on the possible evolutionary scenarios for the subfamily.

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