Dicranolasmatidae

Dicranolasmatidae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Opiliones
Suborder:	Dyspnoi
Superfamily:	Nemastomatoidea
Family:	Dicranolasmatidae Simon, 1879
Genus:	Dicranolasma Sørensen, 1873
Species
see text
Diversity
c. 20 species
Synonyms
Dicranalasma (typo) Amopaum

The Dicranolasmatidae are a family of harvestmen with about 20 described species in a single genus.

Description

Species of Dicranolasma range in body length from three to 6.4 mm. Most parts of the body are encrusted with soil particles. The anterior region features a large headlike "hood" with the eyes in center, which consists of two curved processes. The chelicerae and pedipalps are both hidden under the hood in adults and about half as long as the body. The legs are short. Immature forms are quite different from adults. The immature form of D. opilionoides was even described as a different genus (Amopaum). The hood develops only gradually, so in young Dicranolasma the relatively longer pedipalps are carried outside the hood.^[1]

Distribution

Dicranolasmatidae occur mainly in the Mediterranean region northward to the southern Alps, the Carpathians, eastward to the Caucasus and Iraq, the Levant and southward to western North Africa.^[1]

Relationships

The Dicranolasmatidae are closely related to the Trogulidae and Nemastomatidae, with Trogulus probably sister to Dicranolasma.^[1]

The genus consists of five species groups:^[2][3]

• D. scabrum group — Aegean Islands, Turkey, Caucasia, Middle East

• D. scabrum, D. opilionoides, D. hoberlandti, D. giljarovi, D. kurdistanum, D. thracium, D. ressli, D. ponticum, D. cretaeum.

• D. mladeni group
• D. cristatum group
• D. soerensenii group
• D. apuanum group

Name

The genus name Dicranolasma is a combination of Ancient Greek dikranos "two-headed" and elasma "plate", referring to the hood.^[1]

Species

• Dicranolasma apuanum Marcellino, 1970 - Italy^[4]
• Dicranolasma cretaeum Gruber, 1998 - Crete
• Dicranolasma cristatum Thorell, 1876 - Italy
• Dicranolasma diomedeum Kulczynski, 1907
• Dicranolasma giljarovi Silhavý, 1966 - Rhodos, Carpathians, Caucasus, Turkey^[2]
• Dicranolasma hirtum Loman, 1894 - Sumatra?^[5] or endemic to Italy?^[4]
• Dicranolasma hoberlandti Silhavý, 1956 - Turkey
• Dicranolasma kurdistanum Starega, 1970
• Dicranolasma mlandeni I. M. Karaman, 1990 - Yugoslavia
• Dicranolasma napoli Goodnight & Goodnight, 1944 - Italy
• Dicranolasma opilionoides (L. Koch, 1867) - Greece, Sicily
• Dicranolasma pauper Dahl, 1903 — Italy^[4]
• Dicranolasma ponticum Gruber, 1998 - Turkey
• Dicranolasma ressli Gruber, 1998 - Turkey
• Dicranolasma scabrum (Herbst, 1799) - southeastern Europe
• Dicranolasma soerenseni Thorell, 1876 — Italy, Sardinia, ...^[4]
• Dicranolasma thracium Starega, 1976
• Dicranolasma verhoeffi Dahl, 1903 - Dalmatia

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Gruber, Jürgen (2007): Dicranolasmatidae Simon, 1879. In: Pinto-da-Rocha et al. 2007: 142ff
2. ^ ^{a b} Bayram & Çorak 2007
3. ^ Gruber 1998
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Fauna Italia: Dicranolasmatidae
5. ^ Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog

References

• Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog: Dicranolasmatidae
• Fauna Italia: Dicranolasmatidae
• Gruber, Jürgen (1998): Beiträge zur Systematik der Gattung Dicranolasma (Arachnida: Opiliones, Dicranolasmatidae). I. Dicranolasma thracium Starega und verwandte Formen aus Südosteuropa und Südwestasien. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien 100(B): 489-537.
• Bayram, Abdullah & Çorak, İlkay (2007): A New Record for the Harvest Spider Fauna of Turkey: Dicranolasma giljarovi Silhavy, 1966 (Opilionida, Dicranolasmatidae). Turk J Zool 31: 9-12. PDF
• Pinto-da-Rocha, R., Machado, G. & Giribet, G. (eds.) (2007): Harvestmen - The Biology of Opiliones. Harvard University Press ISBN 0-674-02343-9

Further reading

• Karaman, Ivo (1990): Dicranolasma mladeni, n.sp., a new harvestman (Arachnida, Opiliones) from Yugoslavia. Glasnik Prir. Muz. Beograd 45: 143-148.