Abel Pérez González- Dr. in Zoology
- Researcher at National Scientific and Technical Research Council
Abel Pérez González
- Dr. in Zoology
- Researcher at National Scientific and Technical Research Council
CONICET researcher @ Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia", Arachnology Division.
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122
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Introduction
Abel Pérez González currently works at the Arachnology Division, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia", Argentina. Abel does research in Arachnology, mainly in systematic and morphology of Opiliones and some Synspermiata Araneae families.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
January 2014 - present
Position
- Research Associate
Description
- CONICET researcher and Associated Curator of National Arachnological Collection
December 2012 - present
September 1993 - December 2000
Education
September 2001 - December 2006
September 1996 - May 1999
September 1989 - July 1993
Publications
Publications (122)
In our previous contribution, “Revision of recluse spiders (Araneae: Sicariidae: Loxosceles ) preserved in Dominican amber and a total-evidence phylogeny of Scytodoidea reveal the first fossil Drymusidae” (Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny 80, 2022, 541–559), Table 1 was inadvertently missing from the final published version. It is included in the...
Type localities—the places of origin of the name-bearing type specimens of species and subspecies—are crucial for taxonomic identification and for maintaining taxonomic and nomenclatural stability. However, historical descriptions often lack precise or identifiable locality data. Pelegrín Franganillo Balboa described nearly 200 Cuban arachnids (192...
The holotype of Tetebius latibunus Roewer, 1949, and the topotype material of Malgaceros boviceps Lawrence, 1959, were thoroughly examined and compared. No morphological differences were found between these specimens. Consequently, a new synonymy is herein proposed, identifying Malgaceros boviceps as a synonym of Tetebius latibunus, and subsequentl...
Ochyroceratinae is a diverse subfamily that has received fragmentary taxonomic attention. We here present a survey of Cuban species belonging to this group and examine the results in the light of recent phylogenies of the family. Three new species belonging to Ochyrocera Simon, 1892, are named: Ochyrocera luisarmasi sp. nov., O. maestra sp. nov. an...
The genus Neoscotolemon Roewer, 1912, is herein reviewed and re-diagnosed for the first time using modern taxonomic standards. Neoscotolemon is removed from Grassatores incertae sedis and transferred to the superfamily Samooidea incertae sedis, transl. nov. The genera Citranus Goodnight & Goodnight, 1942, Rula Goodnight & Goodnight, 1942, and Vlach...
The genus Icaleptes was proposed by Kury & Pérez-González in 2002 to accommodate a single Colombian species, Icaleptes malkini, collected in the southeastern slope of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Cesar Department. In this study, we describe two new species for this previously monotypic genus collected on the northwestern slope of the Sierra Nevada...
Despite being one of the most conspicuous African opilionids, the members of Lacurbsinae remain one of the least known groups of harvestmen species. All eight previously-known species of Lacurbsinae are inadequately described and poorly illustrated, leaving the morphological characteristics of this subfamily obscure. After more than half a century,...
Base methodological for the Cuban zoological collections according to the current conditions and the
international norms, with the purpose of standardizing the methods in the formation, conservation and handling of the collections
of natural history to promote and to stimulate the most effective exploitation in the collections and associate compute...
Caribbiantes cubanus Šilhavý, 1973, type species of genus Caribbiantes Šilhavý, 1973, is redescribed based on abundant material from the type locality, providing new data on its morphological variability and penis morphology. Two new species of Caribbiantes are described, C. obtusus sp. nov. and C. barbai sp. nov., based on additional specimens fro...
The family Assamiidae Sorensen, 1884, within the suborder Laniatores Thorell, 1876, of Opiliones remains poorly studied, with challenges arising from typology-based systematics and limited sampling, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The recent discovery of Filopalpinae Martens, 2022, a new subfamily, highlighted the underexplored richness in Ethiop...
The genus Nuncia has long been the most speciose within the Opiliones family Triaenonychidae, comprising 63 species and subspecies distributed across New Zealand and South America. Recent molecular studies utilizing Sanger sequencing and ultraconserved elements (UCEs) have indicated that this genus is not monophyletic, and true Nuncia are actually...
The fundamental value of universal nomenclatural systems in biology is that they enable unambiguous scientific communication. However, the stability of these systems is threatened by recent discussions asking for a fairer nomenclature, raising the possibility of bulk revision processes for "inappropriate" names. It is evident that such proposals co...
Phocyx australis sp. nov. have been newly described from New South Wales, Australia. This represents the first record of the family Buemarinoidae in Australia, thereby remarkably extending the known distribution of this ancient and relictual group of Opiliones. Our descriptions include images of genital morphology, a critical element in group diagn...
Male harvestmen penial armature has a remarkable morphology; however, it is poorly known regarding its functions. We examined the male genitalia of virgin and mated males of the gonyleptid Pachyloides thorellii under Scanning Electron Microscope looking for evidence that the penis could remove sperm from the female ovipositor lumen during mating. M...
List of the 1543 additional coauthors. Co-authors who contributed revising translations are listed first. Then, the rest of the coauthors are listed according alphabetic order of countries/territories.
Ricinulei or hooded tick-spiders are a cryptic and ancient group of arachnids. The order consists of around 100 highly endemic extant species restricted to the Afrotropics and the Neotropics along with 22 fossil species. Their antiquity and low vagility make them an excellent group with which to interrogate biogeographic questions. To date, only th...
The genus Spaeleoleptes was proposed by H. Soares in 1966 to accommodate the first Brazilian troglobitic species of harvestmen, Spaeleoleptes spaeleus H. Soares, 1966. In this work, we redescribe this species, including digital images of the type material and drawings of the male genitalia. Since its description, Spaeleoleptes has remained monotypi...
list of coauthors for the international appeal
Ceratomontia starengai sp. nov. is described from South Africa, based on one specimen found in the type series of Ceratomontia capensis Roewer, 1915, which is redescribed in this work. The presence of this new species represents sympatry of Ceratomontia species, something not uncommon for species of the family Triaenonychidae. Images of the genital...
An updated overview of the Argentinean harvestman fauna, comprising 101 species (99 named and two under study), reunited in three suborders and 11 families, is provided. The richest family, Gonyleptidae, is represented by eight subfamilies, whose record in Argentina is partially the result of systematic advances of the last decade. A commented chec...
Geometric regularity of spider webs has been intensively studied in orb-weaving spiders, although it is not exclusive of orb weavers. Here, we document the geometrically regular, repetitive elements in the webs of the non-orb-weaving groups Leptonetidae and Telemidae for the first time. Similar to orb weavers, we found areas with regularly spaced p...
The evolution of reproductive strategies depends on the relative balance between current benefits and future costs. Geographic variation in demographic and ecological factors has the potential to affect reproductive strategies by altering this optimal cost-benefit balance. Here, we studied a population of the harvestmen Discocyrtus prospicuus inhab...
Recluse or violin spiders in the genus Loxosceles (Scytodoidea: Sicariidae) are a diverse group (~140 extant species) including medically important species and distributed mainly in the Americas, Africa, and the Mediterranean region. In addition, this genus includes three fossil species from Miocene Dominican amber. Here we revise the taxonomy of t...
Triaenonychidae is a family of Opiliones with almost 500 described species distributed in the southern continents. Recent work has provided a solid phylogenetic foundation based on Sanger and ultraconserved element molecular sequence data that resulted in a global reorganisation of the family. In this study, we turn to the South American triaenonyc...
Brazil’s caves, home to diverse species and minerals, were stripped of protections by a recent presidential decree.
Taxonomic monographs synthesize biodiversity knowledge and document biodiversity change through recent and geological time for a particular organismal group, sometimes also incorporating cultural and place-based knowledge. They are a vehicle through which broader questions about ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes can be generated an...
Stenostygnus martensi spec. nov. and Stenostygnus huberi spec. nov. are described from montane localities of the States of Mérida and Lara in Venezuela, and the diagnosis of the previously monotypic genus Stenostygnus Simon, 1879, is emended. The presence of these two new species as local endemics in Andean localities of Venezuela represents a huge...
In its first twenty years of existence Zootaxa has been widely utilized among researchers of Opiliones, mainly those coming from Latin American countries, principally Brazil. During 2003-2020, a total of 141 papers on Opiliones were published in Zootaxa (no papers were published on Opiliones in the first two years, 2001-2002). The journal has great...
Harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones) were among the earliest terrestrial arthropods but their unmineralized exoskeletons are scarce and often fragmentary as fossils (Palencia et al. 2019). Consequently, the discovery and interpretations of fossil harvestmen from the early Palaeozoic can have disproportionate effects on the understanding of evolution i...
Psilodercidae contains some 200 known extant species of small spiders that live in tropical rainforests and caves and is mainly restricted to the Oriental biogeographic realm. Interestingly, at least ten different fossil species have been described from inclusions in Late Cretaceous Burmese amber. This suggests the family has been diversifying in t...
Promecostethus unifalculatus Enderlein, 1909, is the only representative of the order Opiliones from the Crozet Islands. The species belongs to the family Triaenonychidae and is biogeographically interesting because it is a candidate for transoceanic dispersal, a very rare event in this ancient family. Despite this significance, P. unifalculatus is...
The Juan Fernández islands (Chile) are a volcanic archipelago, 670 km away from the continent. Arachnids still remain understudied in those islands. We report the first two records of Parabalta reedii (Butler, 1874) (Opiliones, Gonyleptidae) from the Robinson Crusoe Island. One specimen was collected near San Juan Bautista town (in 2011), while a p...
Triaenonychidae Sørensen in L. Koch, 1886 is a large family of Opiliones with ~480 described species broadly distributed across temperate forests in the Southern Hemisphere. However, it remains poorly understood taxonomically, as no comprehensive phylogenetic work has ever been undertaken. In this study we capitalise on samples largely collected by...
Despite extensive taxonomic work on the Neotropical fauna of the spider genus Micrathena Sundevall, for 27 out of 117 (23%) species only the female morphology has been described, and some of the previously hypothesized male-female matches have been proven erroneous. This work provides new insight about sex matching in two species: Micrathena ruschi...
The laniatorean family Phalangodidae has been largely reduced to a core of Holarctic species; however, many taxa were never formally transferred to other families. We examined a group of harvestmen related to Beloniscus Thorell, 1891, from South-east Asia and determined the nature of the relationships of the ‘Beloniscus-like harvestmen’, herein des...
Harvestmen genera with transcontinental distributions are rare but represent very interesting models for evolutionary and biogeographical studies. However, before attempting to understand such distributions, it is crucial to have a good taxonomic foundation of the focal taxa. One of the most disjunct harvestmen genera is Nuncia Loman, 1902 (Triaeno...
Three new species of the six-eyed haplogyne and ecribellate spiders from the genus Ochyrocera Simon, 1891 are illustrated and described based on males and females from southeastern Brazil: Ochyrocera tinocoi new species (Sooretama, Espírito Santo state), Ochyrocera garayae new species (Linhares and Sooretama, Espírito Santo state) and Ochyrocera it...
Who is going to describe our biodiversity?: the taxonomic impediment faced to the Nagoya Protocol and the current regulations. The entry in force of the Nagoya Protocol on access on genetic resources and benefit sharing has triggered, since 2014, national and provincial regulations in Argentina, which rule different activities, among them the colle...
Resumen: Se registran dos casos de canibalismo no sexual en la araña sinantrópica Physocyclus globosus (Taczanowski, 1874), así como la depredación del primer estadio ninfal de la araña Theraphosidae Phormictopus cubensis Chamberlin, 1917, en una localidad urbana del occidente de Cuba. Con este nuevo registro, ahora son tres los enemigos naturales...
La vigencia del Protocolo de Nagoya sobre acceso a los recursos genéticos y participación en los beneficios ha impulsado, desde 2014, normativas nacionales y provinciales en Argentina, que regulan diversas actividades, entre ellas la colecta y el traslado de especímenes con fines científicos. En esta nota analizamos las consecuencias negativas sobr...
La noche del 2 de septiembre de 2018 se inició un
trágico incendio que destruyó el histórico edificio
que ocupaba el Museo Nacional de Río de Janeiro
(MNRJ), nada menos que el palacio São Cristóvão que
fuera la antigua morada de la familia imperial
brasileña localizada en la Quinta da Boa Vista en
pleno corazón de la metrópoli carioca.
En lo que fu...
In many species of scorpions (Order Scorpiones) and spiders (Order Araneae), mating plugs (gel-like or sclerotized) are deposited in the female reproductive tract, minimizing the possibilities of further matings. Although harvestmen (Order Opiliones) have direct sperm transfer via copulatory organs (penis or spermatopositor in the male and oviposit...
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) commits its 196 nation parties to conserve biological diversity, use its components sustainably, and share fairly and equitably the benefits from the utilization of genetic resources. The last of these objectives was further codified in the Convention's Nagoya Protocol (NP), which came into effect in 201...
Harvestmen penises are intromittent structures surprisingly complex and diverse, making it difficult to imagine that the sole function of the penis is sperm transfer. Knowledge of penis morphology in harvestmen is largely derived from taxonomic works. Therefore, we have a considerable amount of information regarding genital structures, but relative...
The family Drymusidae includes 16 cryptic spiders that build irregular webs in dark places. The family is distributed in South Africa, the Neotropical and Andean regions. Here, we use a molecular approach to infer the relationships of Drymusidae using three mitochondrial (COI, 16S, 12S) and three nuclear (H3, 28S, 18S) markers. Our preferred analys...
Kimulidae es una de las familias neotropicales de opiliones menos estudiadas en América del Sur. Dos aspectos hacen sospechar la presencia de una biodiversidad altamente subestimada: i) concentración de muchas especies con alto endemismo en una pequeña porción de territorio Venezolano y ii) la gigantesca alopatría de su distribución continental con...
A new troglobitic harvestman, Relictopiolus galadriel gen. nov et sp. nov., is described from Olhos d’Água cave, Itacarambi, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Morphological characters, including male genitalia and exomorphology, suggest that this species belongs to the family Kimulidae, and it appears to share the greatest similarities with Tegipiolus pa...
Fully-resolved phylogenetic tree obtained by Bayesian inference analysis of the complete concatenated dataset, conducted in MrBayes.
Support values at nodes represent posterior probabilities.
(PDF)
Chronogram obtained by Bayesian inference analysis of the complete concatenated dataset including COI and H3 third codon positions, conducted in BEAST.
Support values at nodes represent posterior probabilities and blue bars represent the 95% Highest Posterior Densities around divergence time estimates.
(PDF)
Chronogram obtained by Bayesian inference analysis of the complete concatenated dataset, conducted in BEAST.
Support values at nodes represent posterior probabilities and blue bars represent the 95% Highest Posterior Densities around divergence time estimates.
(PDF)
Fully-resolved phylogenetic tree obtained by Bayesian inference analysis of the complete concatenated dataset including COI and H3 third codon positions, conducted in MrBayes.
Support values at nodes represent posterior probabilities.
(PDF)
La presente obra ofrece un compendio de métodos para el inventario y el monitoreo de diferentes grupos de la biota terrestre en Cuba. Realizada con la colaboración de 71 especialistas, fue escrita fundamentalmente para estudiantes, biólogos de campo, profesionales y técnicos de la conservación, que desarrollen trabajos relacionados con las ciencias...
The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009;...
This plot is not part of the published stance but derives from it. The plot shows the number of authors by geographic region (courtesy of Dr. Diego Astua).
Cavernicolous species that exhibit a high degree of troglomorphism often provide some of the most intriguing evolutionary riddles. For such taxa, the correct systematic arrangement is difficult to determine and becomes problematic when based solely on highly convergent external morphological characters, leading to exaggerated support of spurious re...
Background
There has never been any published work about the diversity of spiders in the city of Rio de Janeiro using analytical tools to measure diversity. The only available records for spider communities in nearby areas indicate 308 species in the National Park of Tijuca and 159 species in Marapendi Municipal Park. These numbers are based on a...
Most Abundant Species at Pedra Branca State Park
The type specimens of Fijicolana tuberculata Roewer, 1963 were re-examined and the male genital morphology is illustrated and described for the first time. Despite the presence of several morphological features that are typical of Samoidae, such as the presence of scopulae on legs III and IV, genital morphology unambiguously indicates that this spe...
Background:
A series of databases is being prepared to list the valid species of Opiliones worldwide. This paper containing nomenclatural acts is meant to accompany Part 2, which includes the members of the infraorder Grassatores of the superfamilies Samooidea and Zalmoxoidea plus the Grassatores currently not allocated to any family (i.e. Grassat...
Including more than 6500 species, Opiliones is the third most diverse order of Arachnida, after the megadiverse Acari and Araneae. This database is part 2 of 12 of a project containing an intended worldwide checklist of species and subspecies of Opiliones, and it includes the members of the suborder Laniatores, infraorder Grassatores of the superfa...
World Checklist of Opiliones species (Arachnida). Part 2: Laniatores – Samooidea, Zalmoxoidea and Grassatores incertae sedis
Acropsopilio chilensis Silvestri, 1904 (Eupnoi: Caddidae: Acropsopilioninae), is recorded for Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile. This is the first harvestman species recorded for the Juan Fernández Archipelago and also the first extra-continental record for this species. During the comparison with continental co-specific specimens, some previously unkn...
We describe the previously unknown male of Litoporus iguassuensis Mello-Leitão, 1918 and document the exceptional biology of this species: (1) females and juveniles but not adult males construct camouflaged retreats; (2) there is a strong sexual dimorphism involving coloration, leg length, and behavior; (3) females at some localities are color poly...
Incorporating masculine genitalic characters into Opiliones taxonomy has produced important revisions in the systematics of this group of arachnids. Currently, the inclusion of penis morphology in the description of any taxon of Phalangida (harvestmen with penis: Eupnoi + Dyspnoi + Laniatores, as used in Pinto-da-Rocha et al. 2007) has become an al...
The internal phylogeny of the arachnid order Opiliones is investigated by including molecular data from five molecular markers for ca. 140 species totalling 43 families of Opiliones. The phylogenetic analyses consisted of a direct optimization (DO) approach
using POY v. 4 and sophisticated tree search algorithms as well as a static alignment analys...
The Tocantins 2007 Expedition of the Project “Aracnídeos e Miriápodes da Mata Atlântica” (AMMA)produced many new records of arachnids and centipedes, with 61 morphotypes identified. Among the resultsare: OPILIONES: 30 morphotypes with six new records of families and one of subfamily from Tocantinsstate; discovery of two undescribed species of Roque...
Sexually dimorphic glands often release sexual pheromones both in vertebrates and invertebrates. Species of Laniatores (Arachnida, Opiliones) seem to depend on chemical communication but few studies have addressed this topic. In this study, we review the literature for the Phalangida and present new data for 23 species of Laniatores. In 16 taxa, we...
In the course of conducting a systematic review of the Cuban Stenostygninae (Biantidae), it has been deemed critical to review Heterolacurbs ovalis Roewer, 1912 from Togo. The habitus and the enlarged metatarsus III of males (as shown in Roewer 1912: 185, fig. 42 and 1923: 143, fig. 154) of this species, which is currently placed in the Lacurbsinae...
Kimula cokendolpheri new species is described from the Central Range of the Dominican Republic, West Indies. It is the first non-fossil species of this genus recorded from Hispaniola.
A new spider species, Ochyrocera ibitipoca sp. n., is described from caves in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. A close relationship to Ochyrocera viridissima Brignoli, 19742.
Brignoli , P. M. 1974. Ragni del Brasile. I. Ochyrocera viridissima n. sp. (Araneae, Ochyroceratidae).. Rev Suisse Zool, 81: 77–81. View all references is indicated by male...
The fifth species of the genus Spinopilar Mello-Leitão 1940 is described. This is the second cavernicolous species of the subfamily, the other being Pararezendesius luridus H. Soares 1972 from caves in São Paulo State, Brazil. Spinopilar moria, new species, shows elongate appendages, significantly longer than the epigean species of Spinopi-lar, hig...
Base methodological for the Cuban zoological collections according to the current conditions and the international norms, with the purpose of standardizing the methods in the formation, conservation and handling of the collections of natural history to promote and to stimulate the most effective exploitation in the collections and associate compute...
A new genus of Ideoroncidae, Pseudalbiorix, is described from Central America, and is found to consist of four species: the type species P. reddelli (Muchmore 1982), new combination from southern Mexico, P. veracruzensis (Hoff 1945), new combination from Belize, Guatemala and southern Mexico, and P. muchmorei Barba & Pérez, new species and P. armas...
Two new species of Brazilian Fissiphalliidae are described. Fissiphallius chicoi n. sp. from Pará State, Gurupá municipality, whitewater floodplains (várzea), and Fissiphallius tucupi n. sp. from Amazonas State, Castanho municipality (paleovárzea). The number of species for this family in the Amazon rainforest increases from one to three. The two n...
Two new species of Brazilian Fissiphalliidae are described. Fissiphallius chicoi n. sp. from Pará State, Gurupá municipality, whitewater floodplains (várzea), and Fissiphallius tucupi n. sp. from Amazonas State, Castanho municipality (paleovárzea). The number of species for this family in the Amazon rainforest increases from one to three. The two n...
The genus Leptopholcus has a circumtropical distribution, but the only New World records previously known were for the Greater Antilles. On these islands, Leptopholcus is quite common, probably due to the absence of Metago-nia from the Antilles. On the other hand, Leptopholcus was previously thought to be absent from the mainland where Metagonia is...
Questions
Questions (2)
Several morphological characteristics (adaptative or not) could be associated with the process of adaptation to a specific environment or microhabitat. For example, several troglobization processes (species with all the live cycle exclusively in caves) in non-related lineages are associated with the same morphological changes, such as anophtalmy, loss of pigmentation, appendage elongation, etc.
My question is: do there exist morphological changes (and which ones) in arthropods associated with the adaptation to live in a canopy? (and a bibliographic reference if possible).
Thank you very much!
When the arthropod specimens (in alcohol collection) are dirty and sometimes with fungus, what tips for cleaning do you advise in order to have clean samples for SEM ? (Most of them do not resist long ultrasonic cleaning because the cuticular armatures are fragile.) Is there any solution or treatment for dissolve fungus (and not chitin)?
