Adriano Kury

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro | UFRJ · Departamento de Invertebrados

All the systematic literature (774 references) of the suborder Laniatores of the Americas up to year 2002 is tabulated to generate a thorough annotated classification. 2372 species in 746 genera of Laniatores of the New World are listed. 26 families of Laniatores are recognized as valid, of which 21 occur in the New World. The most diverse family i...

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 diver...

For the first time a hypothesis of homology is proposed for the macrosetae which compose the armature of the distal truncus penis of the Gonyleptoidea. Previous attempts to name them in the literature have not been continued because they started by referring to macrosetae based on their position, which may change widely, and all of them were very n...

WCO-Lite (with the word “light” restyled as “lite”) is a slenderer, more agile, online version of WCO, aiming to be a public-ready, authoritative reference for taxonomy of all subtaxa of harvestmen worldwide. WCO-Lite is being developed using an integrated web-based workbench for taxonomists called TaxonWorks (http://taxonworks.org/), created by Th...

The cosmetids are conspicuous harvestmen, remarkably diverse in size, shape and colour. However, the effectiveness of all these morphological traits for diagnosing groups is scarcely explored in the literature. Since the early 20th century, the family Cosmetidae has been divided into two subfamilies, Cosmetinae and Discosomaticinae, and there has b...

The American species of Cosmetidae, in spite of being clearly distinguished in the older literature, were mixed-up by Roewer.

A small group of species historically included in the genus Cynorta C.L. Koch, 1839 has been identified and described in this study. Based on a phylogenetic analysis using morphological data, we propose that these species be recognized as a non-monotypic genus, for which the available name Abria Sørensen, 1932 is used. Abria is newly diagnosed and...

A new genus and species of Neotropical Grassatores, Hevelia crucis gen. et sp. nov., is described and illustrated based on material of both sexes from Colombia. After comparison with the greater groups in Zalmoxoidea, especially the putative early derivative families Guasiniidae and Icaleptidae, this new taxon is considered a Zalmoxoidea incertae s...

The genus Lacronia Strand, 1942 is herein revised, and a maximum parsimony phylogenetic analysis of morphological characters (30 taxa, 115 characters, 2962 scorings) is performed to test its monophyly. As a result, Lacronia is herein made monophyletic by means of the inclusion of Discocyrtus boraceae B. Soares, 1942, Discocyrtus niger Mello-Leitão,...

Fortia, gen. nov., a new genus of Stygnidae with two new Colombian species, is diagnosed and described. Two possibly sympatric species Fortia jedi, sp. nov., and Fortia sith, sp. nov. (both from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia), are described and illustrated. Relationships of the new genus are discussed.

Rhaucoides Roewer, 1912 is herein revisited and re-diagnosed based on somatic and genital morphology, including the differences of both expanded and unexpanded glans complex shown for the first time in Cosmetidae. The genus is characterized mainly by abdominal ornamentation, coloration and by having the two basalmost tarsomeres of leg I fused. The...

The holotype of Avima leucobunus Roewer 1949, type-species of Avima, is studied, and its genital morphology is described for the first time. The Avima albiornata species group is here proposed to include three species, i.e. Avima albidecorata (Šilhavý, 1979), A. albiornata (Goodnight et Goodnight, 1947) and A. intermedia (Goodnight et Goodnight, 19...

After the type species of Paradiscocyrtus Mello-Leitão, 1927 (Paradiscocyrtus neglectus Mello-Leitão, 1927) was recognized and redescribed, the difference between it and the other two species of the genus proved to be remarkable. Herein, a maximum parsimony phylogenetic analysis with morphological characters (2519 scorings; 28 taxa; 105 characters)...

Background K92 is a clade of Gonyleptidae harvestmen of which the greatest diversity lies within the large non-monophyletic subfamily Gonyleptinae. K92 formally includes five subfamilies: Caelopyginae Sørensen, 1884, Gonyleptinae Sundevall, 1833, Hernandariinae Sørensen, 1884, Progonyleptoidellinae Soares & Soares, 1985 and Sodreaninae Soares & Soa...

A description of the pattern of structure and organization of the penial macrosetae was recently put forward for Gonyleptoidea Sundevall, 1833 and demonstrated to occur also in other families of Grassatores Kury, 2002, such as Assamiidae Srensen, 1884, Epedanidae Srensen, 1886 and Pyramidopidae Sharma, Prieto & Giribet, 2011. This set of homology h...

The monotypic genus Bunostigma Mello-Leitão, 1935 is herein revisited. A detailed redescription of its type-species, Bunostigma singulare Mello-Leitão, 1935 from Rio de Janeiro state, eastern Brazil, is herein presented, providing in depth knowledge of this genus. Bunostigma is most closely related to Cryptogeobius Mello-Leitão, 1935, and as this g...

Twelve taxonomic acts are proposed in Gonyleptoidea. In Agoristenidae, 2 specific synonymies are proposed in Avima Roewer and Ocoita González-Sponga. Medellinia bordoni Soares and Avram syn. nov. is transferred from Holocranaus Roewer (Cranaidae) to Manaosbiidae attr. nov. and considered a junior subjective synonym of Rhopalocranaus bordoni Šilhavý...

During a study of Discocyrtus Holmberg, 1878 and related genera, several species of alleged Pachylinae, mostly Discocyrtus, from southern Brazil were suspected of belonging in Roeweriinae. Herein, a maximum parsimony phylogenetic analysis of morphological characters was performed to test this hypothesis. Accordingly, the following taxonomic changes...

Following the results of a maximum parsimony cladistic analysis of 30 terminal taxa against 117 morphologic characters (2978 scorings), the new genus Krateromaspis gen. nov. is described in Neopachylinae. This new genus accommodates three species from Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, formerly included in Discocyrtus Holmberg, 1878: Krateromaspis ant...

Cosmetus Perty, 1833 is the type genus of the most diverse subfamily of Laniatores, Cosmetinae. The genus currently includes 22 valid species with a disconnected distribution, including coastal forests of NE Brazil, dry forests of the Ecuadorian Pacific, Chocó-Darien moist forests and the Venezuelan Andes. The morphology among species in the genus...

The English counterpart of Cuvier's Le Règne Animal, organized by Edward Griffith in several volumes, contained not only a translation of the French original, but also new material added by invited collaborators. The part on Arachnida, with new material contributed by George R. Gray, contained descriptions of five species of Opiliones, one of them...

The genus Spinopilar Mello-Leitão, 1940 currently has seven species distributed in eastern Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Three species are hitherto known from Rio de Janeiro state (RJ), in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. In this paper, five species from Rio de Janeiro state (RJ) are studied as follows: (1) Spinopilar armatus Mello-Leitão, 1940, th...

Some taxonomic changes are made in Amazonian Stygnidae, based on reinterpretation of generic boundaries: (1) the hitherto monotypic genus Jime Pinto-da-Rocha & Tourinho, 2012 is newly recorded from Venezuela: Jime praecursor spec. nov. (Tobogán de la Selva, Amazonas state) is described and a new generic diagnosis is provided. The genital chaetotaxy...

A study of several Argentinean/southern Brazilian nominal species currently included in the genus Discocyrtus Holmberg, 1878 was conducted. We restore Opisthoplatus Holmberg, 1878 from synonymy of Discocyrtus after almost 140 years to include three species that are redescribed here. Opisthoplatus is referred to the recently described subfamily Neop...

Kury A. B., Mendes A. C., Cardoso L., Kury M. S., Granado A. de A., Giribet G., Cruz-López J. A., Longhorn S. J. (2021). WCO: World Catalogue of Opiliones (version 2021-03-23). In: Catalogue of Life, et al. (2021). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, 2021-04-05. Digital resource at www.catalogueoflife.org. Species 2000: Naturalis, Leiden, the Ne...

The sixth species of Gonyleptellus is described from the mountains of Nova Friburgo in Rio de Janeiro State, south-eastern Brazil. Gonyleptellus camelopardalis sp. nov. more closely resembles G. pustulatus and G. angeloi due to the proapical apophysis curved backwards with a secondary branch, and more specifically the latter because of the reduced...

The present paper describes two new species of Plistobunus Pocock, 1903, from China: Plistobunus gracilipenis sp. nov. from Yunnan Province, and P. weiguang sp. nov. from Guangxi Province. Their discovery greatly expands the distribution of this genus to the northwest and further inland in China.

The "World Catalogue of Opiliones" (WCO) is a collaborative effort to comprehensively index the Earth's species of harvestmen. This paper announces one component of the WCO, "WCO-Lite" a website available at https://wcolite.com/. WCO-Lite provides a graphic user interface for a second component of the WCO, "Opiliones of the World", a database on th...

This is minor version 1.2 of the WCO-Lite website, containing one more layer of this nomenclatural/taxonomic endeavor. Version 1.2 contains bibliographic references for taxa nomina (exhaustive up to suprageneric taxa) and features a new author in the project team.

A morphological maximum parsimony analysis (2273 scorings; 25 taxa; 107 characters) is performed here with eight species of Discocyrtus Holmberg, 1878 to test their monophyly. According to the results obtained herein, only the four species Discocyrtus crenulatus Roewer, 1913, Discocyrtus flavigranulatus B. Soares, 1944 and Discocyrtus moraesianus M...

WEBSITE: Kury, A.B., Mendes, A.C., Cardoso, L., Kury, M.S. & Granado, A.de A. (2020) World Catalogue of Opiliones. WCO-Lite version 1.1. Online at: https://wcolite.com/. Complete list of valid taxon nomina of harvestmen from suborder to subspecies; exhaustive taxonomic survey up to December 2018

The genus nomen Larifuga Loman, 1898 was originally published without stated grammatical gender. No possible indications of gender are provided by the specific epithets, as all of them are nouns in the genitive. This genus nomen has consistently been treated as feminine in the literature. However, as shown here, it is a masculine classical Latin wo...

In the context of making a Catalog of World Opiliones accessible online, five vexing cases of incorrect authorship, dating and presumption of misidentification are herein treated, all in the suborder Laniatores. Pachylicus gracilis comb. nov. is proposed for Cerroa gracilis Roewer, 1928.

The harvestman genus Vima Hirst, 1912 is revised and newly diagnosed. A new species from Caqueta´ (Colombia), Vima panita sp. nov., is described and illustrated. This is the second species of Vima, and it represents the first record of the genus from Colombia expanding its range by 1,500 km to the southwest. Scanning electron micrograph images of t...

The old genus Libitia Simon, 1879 of small Andean harvestmen is revisited. The monotypic genus Libitiella Roewer, 1947 is herein considered a junior subjective synonym of Libitia. Accordingly, Libitiella bipunctata (Sørensen, 1932) is restored to the combination Libitia bipunctata. The species Libitia cordata and Libitia bipunctata comb. nov. are r...

The species Brachylibitia ectroxantha was described by Mello-Leitão in 1941 and since then it was never again reported or studied. Its type is certainly lost and his identity was until now a mystery; it is currently considered as species inquirenda and transferred to Eulibitia in a recent revision of the genus. Herein, we designate a neotype and pr...

Hyporheic zone is an active ecotone constituted by the interstitial spaces between the particles of the riverbed. The use of morphological traits can be useful to detect organisms distribution patterns in these areas. Information concerning hyporheic communities are scarce as well on chironomid vertical distribution. Fauna samples from the hyporhei...

Usatama gen. nov. is described to include a new species of Kimulidae from Colombia. This is the first record of the family from the country. The new genus presents a weakly armed ocularium, feeble sexual dimorphism, and unique genital structure with three parallel horseshoe-shaped girdles in pars distalis and absence of cochleariform macrosetae.

The family nomen Sironidae, widely attributed to Simon (1879), but recently stated to have been made available 40 years before by C. L. Koch (1839), is now shown to be even older, dating of Leach (1816), in a publication never acknowledged in the arachnological literature.

The genus Gonyleptellus Roewer, 1930 is revised and reordered; a new species Gonyleptellus angeloi sp. nov. is described from Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, three additional species are transferred from other genera and one species is removed, resulting in five species in this genus. The following nomenclatural acts are proposed herein: Gonyleptes...

IS19035 Accepted 20 June 2019 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 Southeast Asia and determined the nature of the relationships of the "Beloniscu...

The penial and tarsal morphology of Protimesius is studied and morphological data support the revalidation of Obidosus with the subsequent new combinations (20 species) and restored combinations (two species). Emended diagnoses are proposed for both genera, and two cave-dwelling new species of Protimesius are described and illustrated: P. lucifer s...

Discocyrtoidespinorum sp. nov. is described from the conifers forest in Paraná State, Southern Brazil. This is the second species of Discocyrtoides Mello-Leitão, 1923, the other being known from São Paulo State. It is remarkable for having greenish/yellowish spots in the dorsal scutum highly contrasting with the brown background, a feature rare in...

The genus Neocynorta is here revisited, resulting in the increase of its diversity from three species to 13, maintaining only the type species N. virescens from its former conformation. Two subjective synonyms of Neocynorta are proposed: Forfexia and Szczurekia, transferring their members to Neocynorta (F. marmorata, S. frigida, S. petrae and S. vi...

This work is an in depth survey of all known extant and fossil Opiliones family-series nomina from the nomenclatural viewpoint, based on a corpus of 3788 bibliographic sources and aiming to serve as a reliable reference on the taxonomy of the order. A total of 194 available family-series nomina (5 fossil, 189 extant) are listed with dates and sourc...

The generic name Paecilaema C.L. Koch, 1839 is anchored to the nomen dubium Cosmetus u-flavum Perty, 1833, and the fixation of the latter is proposed by designating a neotype. The choice was made on a potential topotype, being a common species in metropolitan Rio de Janeiro city, SE Brazil, which has been described as new five times and is currentl...

The harvestman genus Propachylus Roewer, 1913 is herein revalidated from the synonymy of Discocyrtus Holmberg, 1878. Its type species, Propachylus singularis Roewer, 1913 has a convoluted taxonomic history, connected to Discocyrtus fornicatus Sørensen, 1884 (currently known as Metadiscocyrtus fornicatus). The monotypic genus Metadiscocyrtus Roewer,...

The phylogeny of the genus Roquettea Mello-Leitão, 1931 and its position in Discosomaticinae are investigated. The monophyly of an expanded Roquettea is for the first time tested and corroborated. The internal relations of Roquettea are elucidated by means of a morphological maximum parsimony cladistic analysis. Synapomorphies for the genus include...

Gonyleptes curvipes Kollar, in C.L. Koch, 1839 has taxonomic problems: it is a primary junior homonym of Gonyleptes curvipes Guérin-Méneville, 1837; the holotype of G. curvipes Kollar was cited twice by Roewer (1913) under two genera, one being a misidentification of an undescribed species and a new combination under Discocyrtus Holmberg, 1878; Koc...

The correct spelling of a subfamily name based on the genus name Leptopsalis Thorell, 1882 should be Leptopsalidinae, therefore the original incorrect spelling of the subfamily name Leptopsalinae Clouse, 2012, is herein emended to Leptopsalidinae Clouse, 2012.

Lomanius annae sp. nov. is described from southern Vietnam. The species is characterized by the greatly developed dorso-basal process on cheliceral hand of males and by the partial effacement of all mesotergal grooves. The genus Lomanius contains four generic synonyms and currently comprises eight valid species distributed in China, Java, peninsula...

Amblypygi Thorell, 1883 has five families, of which Phrynichidae is one of the most diverse and with a wide geographic distribution. The genera of this family inhabit mostly Africa, India and Southeast Asia, with one genus known from the Neotropics, Trichodamon Mello-Leitão, 1935. Trichodamon has two valid species, T. princeps Mello-Leitão, 1935 an...

A group of Amazonian harvestmen is recognized and described as Amazochroma gen. nov. This taxon includes Discocyrtus carvalhoi Mello-Leitão, 1941 (type species), the only species of Discocyrtus previously thought to occur in Amazonia, and Amazochroma pedroi gen. et sp. nov., described here from the Brazilian states of Acre and Rondônia. New records...

Conflicting synonymies involving the genera Gagrella Stoliczka, 1869, and Zaleptus Thorell, 1876 are discussed. The synonymies of Ceratobunus Thorell, 1889 and Hypsibunus Thorell, 1891 with Zaleptus proposed earlier, but later disclaimed, are also not accepted here (in spite of appearing in a large internet checklist). If accepted, they would furth...

New substitute names are proposed here to replace two undetected homonymous genus names in Opiliones – Cassinia Roewer, 1927 and Petraia GonzálezSponga, 2003 – from GuineaBissau and Venezuela respectively.

The forgotten Sörensenius Berg, 1898, which is an available replacement name for Asopus Sørensen, 1896, which in turn is preoccupied (invalid by being a junior homonym), has to be resurrected as its most senior valid synonym. The genus name Pyramidops Loman, 1902, in spite of having been somewhat cited in the old and recent literature, fails to mee...

The nomenclatural tangle involving Siro Latreille 1797 and Siro rubens Latreille, 1802 is clarified. The accurate publication dates and availability of Siro and its type species are discussed. The modes and validity of the designations of type species of Siro are evaluated. The alleged senior homonym Siro Kniphof, 1759 or Siro Reichard, 1759 is dis...

________________________________________________________________________________ When the Danish diacritic evaporates: nomenclatural considerations on the generic name Sorensenella Pocock, 1903 (Opiliones: Insidiatores: Triaenonychidae) Quando il diacritico danese sparisce: considerazioni nomenclaturali sul nome generico Sorensenella Pocock, 1903 (...

Discocyrtanus canjinjim sp. n., belonging to the family Gonyleptidae Sundevall, 1833 is described based on nineteen specimens, eleven adult males and eight adult females, collected in the Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade, in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. This new species represents an endemic component for the harvestmen fauna of Chiquitano Dry...

The Andean genus Rhaucus Simon 1879 is revised. Five valid species are recognized, including Rhaucus florezi sp. nov. The following nomenclatural acts are proposed. At genus level: Megarhaucus Mello-Leitão, 1941, Neorhaucus Pickard-Cambridge, 1905 and Pararhaucus Pickard-Cambridge, 1905 are considered junior subjective synonyms of Rhaucus. At speci...

The genus Eulibitia was described by Roewer including three species from Colombia and Ecuador: Eulibitia maculata Roewer, 1912, E. annulipes Roewer, 1912 and E. sexpunctata Roewer, 1914. Herein, the genus is revisited and only the type species, Eulibitia maculata Roewer, 1912 is maintained from the previous configuration. Eulibitia sexpunctata is t...

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).

The macrosetae of the ventral plate of Laniatores penis have been occasionally described and used for systematic purposes in the literature, to the point of having a whole system created for them in the recent study Of Kury & Villarreal (2015), in a paper where a phylogenetic analysis of the subfamily Gonyleptoidea was performed. Contrastingly, the...

The genus Discocyrtanus Roewer, 1929, is herein revalidated from the synonymy of Discocyrtus Holmberg, 1878, to include besides the type species Discocyrtanus goyazius Roewer, 1929, four other Brazilian species, two of them new—Discocyrtanus bugre sp. nov. and Discocyrtanus tocantinensis sp. nov.—and two newly transferred from Discocyrtus: Discocyr...

In many Opiliones (notably the Laniatores) the five most anterior opisthosomal tergites are fused with the carapace forming the so called dorsal scutum (DS) (Latreille 1804; Simon 1879; Hadži 1942) with a highly variable shape arising from multiple factors, such as differential development of musculature (especially of coxa IV), internal organs and...

Flirtea C.L. Koch, 1839, is one of the oldest genera described in Cosmetidae, currently including 30 species mostly from the Andes. Its type species, Cosmetus pictus Perty, 1833, from Brazil, the type material of which is long lost, has since long been misidentified in the literature due to a redescription based on another unrelated species, while...

The genus Platymessa was originally described by Mello-Leitão and diagnosed following the Roewerian system. It originally included two species from the Colombian Andes. Subsequently, a third species was described: Platymessa transversalis Roewer, 1963, which is herein transferred to the genus Chusgonobius Roewer, 1952, forming the new combination C...

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