Cladonychiidae

Cladonychiidae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Opiliones
Suborder:	Laniatores
Superfamily:	Travunioidea
Family:	Cladonychiidae Hadži, 1935
Species
see text
Diversity
5 genera, c. 16 species
Synonyms
Erebromastridae

The Cladonychiidae are a small family of harvestman with less than twenty described species, within the suborder Laniatores.

Description

Members of this family range from less than two to about four millimeters in body length, with robust, spined pedipalps and rather short legs, although the second pair can be as long as two centimeter. Most Cladonychiidae are reddish brown to dark brown, but cave-dwelling species are pale yellow. Not all species have eyes.^[1]

Distribution

The genus Holoscotolemon is palearctic, ranging from France to Romania and Serbia and Montenegro, with most species found in northern Italy. All other genera are found in the USA.^[1]

Fossils

Proholoscotolemon was recently found in Baltic amber.

Relationships

Cladonychiidae are possibly related to Pentanychidae. If this is the case, the Cladonychiidae from the eastern US would be basal to the family.^[1]

Name

The name of the former type genus Cladonychium (now synonymized with Erebomaster) is derived from Ancient Greek "branched claw".^[1]

Species

• Cryptomaster Briggs, 1969

• Cryptomaster leviathan (Briggs, 1969) — Oregon

• Erebomaster Cope, 1872

• Erebomaster flavescens Cope, 1872 — caves; Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky

• Erebomaster flavescens flavescens Cope, 1872
• Erebomaster flavescens weyerensis (Packard, 1888) — Weyer's cave; Virginia
• Erebomaster flavescens coecum (Packard, 1888) — Carter cave

• Erebomaster acanthina (Crosby & Bishop, 1924) — southeastern U.S.

• Holoscotolemon Roewer, 1915

• Holoscotolemon unicolor Roewer, 1915 — East Tyrol
• Holoscotolemon jaqueti (Corti, 1905) — Romania
• Holoscotolemon querilhaci (Lucas, 1864) — southern France
• Holoscotolemon granulatus Roewer, 1915
• Holoscotolemon franzinii M. Tedeschi & R. Sciaky, 1994 — Italy
• Holoscotolemon lessiniense J. Martens, 1978 — Italy
• Holoscotolemon monzinii M. Tedeschi & R. Sciaky, 1994 — Italy
• Holoscotolemon naturae M. Tedeschi & R. Sciaky, 1994 — Italy
• Holoscotolemon oreophilum J. Martens, 1978 — Italy

• Speleomaster Briggs, 1974

• Speleomaster lexi Briggs, 1974 — Idaho
• Speleomaster pecki Briggs, 1974

• Theromaster Briggs, 1969

• Theromaster archeri (Goodnight & Goodnight, 1942) — Alabama
• Theromaster brunnea (Banks, 1902) — Yancy County, North Carolina

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Briggs, Thomas S. & Ubick, Darrell (2007): Cladonychiidae Hadži, 1935. In: Pinto-da-Rocha et al. 2007: 179ff

References

• Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog: Cladonychiidae
• Pinto-da-Rocha, R., Machado, G. & Giribet, G. (eds.) (2007): Harvestmen - The Biology of Opiliones. Harvard University Press ISBN 0-674-02343-9