Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 133 No. 1: 17 Jan. 2003
Type: Article
Published: 2003-01-17
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.133.1.1
Page range: 1–14
Abstract views: 35
PDF downloaded: 3

A new Rakaia species (Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi, Pettalidae) from Otago, New Zealand

Museum of Comparative Zoology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Opiliones Cyphophthalmi Rakaia New Zealand

Abstract

Rakaia macra sp. nov. is described from three lots of specimens collected by Ray Forster in 1977 from Waipori, Otago, South Island of New Zealand. This species is currently known only from the Waipori area (exact locality unspecified) where it is extremely abundant. Clearly a member of the family Pettalidae, R. macra sp. nov. presents unusual chelicerae, with a conspicuous outer lateral ridge on the second segment, and without the two types of denticles in the mobile digit that characterize the New Zealand pettalids. The relationships between the new species and its closest relatives are discussed, and the distinction between the genera Rakaia and Neopurcellia is questioned.

References

  1. Forster, R. R. (1948) The sub-order Cyphophthalmi Simon in New Zealand. Dominion Museum Records in Entomology, 1, 79-119.

    Forster, R. R. (1952) Supplement to the sub-order Cyphophthalmi. Dominion Museum Records in Entomology, 1, 179-211.

    Giribet, G. (2000) Catalogue of the Cyphophthalmi of the world (Arachnida, Opiliones). Revista Ibérica de Aracnología, 2, 49-76.

    Giribet, G. (2003) Karripurcellia, a new pettalid genus (Arachnida, Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi) from Western Australia with a cladistic analysis of the family Pettalidae. Invertebrate Systematics (in press).

    Giribet, G. & Boyer, S.L. (2002) A cladistic analysis of the cyphophthalmid genera (Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi). Journal of Arachnology, 30, 110-128.

    Hansen, H. J. & Sørensen, W. (1904) "On Two Orders of Arachnida: Opiliones, Especially the Suborder Cyphophthalmi, and Ricinulei, Namely the Family Cryptostemmatoidae." Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Juberthie, C. (1970) Les genres d’opilions sironinae (Cyphophthalmes). Bulletin du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 41(6), 1371-1390.

    Juberthie, C. (1988) Un nouvel opilion cyphophthalme aveugle d'Australie: Austropurcellia gen. nov., scoparia n.sp. Mémoires de Biospéologie, 15, 133-140.

    Juberthie, C. (1989) Rakaia daviesae sp. nov. (Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi, Pettalidae) from Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 27, 499-507.

    Myers, N., Mittermeier, R.A., Mittermeier, C.G., Fonseca G.A.B. d. & Kent, J. (2000) Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature, 403, 853-858.

    Phillipps, W.J. & Grimmett, R.E.R. (1932) Some new Opiliones from New Zealand. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1932, 731-740.

    Shear, W.A. (1993) The genus Chileogovea (Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi, Petallidae). Journal of Arachnology, 21, 73-78.