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Family Epedanidae Sørensen, 1886 — version 1.0
Adriano B. Kury
1. Introduction
The Epedanidae are a family of average-sized Laniatores of which less than 200
species are known. They are exclusively found in SE Asia, with a few species reaching as
far north as Nepal and southern China. Epedanids are characterized by the high single
spine of eye mound, immense cheliceral hands, elaborate dentition of both cheliceral
fingers and very elongate pedipalps. The initial concept of this family varied greatly
including members of at least five other today’s families until they were merged into the
Phalangodidae. Roewer did the basic generic work on them and Suzuki contributed more
genra and species in the 1970-1980s. All the constituent family groups were until recently
assembled in the large Phalangodidae. They were united into a single exclusive family for
the first time in a Table in Kury (2003: 13), following conclusions of an analysis by Kury
(1993). The history of the Epedanidae contain one remarkable anti-ethic act perpetrated by
Mello-Leitão, who, noticing that Macrobunus Roewer, 1912 was preoccupied, proposed
Lentsujo Mello-Leitão 1943 as a replacement name. Portuguese words of the name
translate as “dirty Lent” referring to Prof. Hermann Lent, an opponent of Mello-Leitão.
Fortunately for the ethics, Roewer himself had already provided the valid replacement
name Aboriscus Roewer, 1940.
1.1. Subtaxa included
The Epedanidae have 73 genera and 188 species (Kury, 2003). There are four
available subfamily names, which however have blurred boundaries:
Dibuninae Roewer, 1912
Acrobuninae Roewer, 1912
Epedaninae Sørensen, 1886
Sarasinicinae Roewer, 1923
1.2. Systematic historical background
Earlier reference to the existence of the epedanids started with Thorell (1877), who
described the genus Epedanus with three species from Borneo and Java and placed it in the
family Gonyleptoidae. Two years later, Simon (1879) transferred Epedanus to the assorted
assemblage Phalangodidae, which included genera now in Assamiidae, Oncopodidae,
Podoctidae and Samoidae.
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Sørensen (1886) founded the family Epedanoidae to include the genera Hinzuanius
Karsch, Mesoceras new, Ibalonius Karsch and Epedanus Thorell. This taxon soon proved to
be heterogeneous (including members of today’s Biantidae and Podoctidae), and of those
only Epedanus remains in the family. The next decade saw many descriptions of new
genera and species by Thorell (1890) with Bupares from Burma and Malaysia and Tythaeus
from Malaysia and Singapore.
Loman (1902: 197) promoted major changes in the families of Laniatores, by
including the North American nucleus of Phalangodidae in the Gonyleptidae, and
distributing the rest in the Biantidae and Epedanidae. He expanded considerably the
boundaries of the Epedanidae, including nothing less than 23 genera, many of them at
present in the Podoctidae and Zalmoxidae.
Pocock
(1903:
446)
considered
Epedanidae
to
be
a
junior
synonym
of
Phalangodidae, which at that time included most of today’s families of Laniatores. Roewer
(1912) followed Pocock’s system, including all epedanids, biantids, podoctids and
zalmoxids in Phalangodidae.
Roewer (1938) made an extensive review of the 3 “phalangodid” subfamilies which
today correspond to the bulk of Epedanidae. Dibuninae was included in the Biantidae by
Mello-Leitão (1949) because of the eyes placed in two widely separated mounds.
Subsequent authors e. g. Suzuki (1977) kept Dibuninae in Epedanidae. Few other authors
dealt with this family. Suzuki (e. g. 1969) described varied new species from SE Asia but
never made a revisionary work. The four subfamilies that currently compose the
Epedanidae were for the first time detached from the Phalangodidae and brought together
by Kury (1993; 2003).
1.3. Natural history and micro-habitat
There is a great gap in the knowledge of the natural history of this family. Records
of collecting from literature mention sifting leaf litter and location under logs and stones.
2. Characterization
•
Body dorsal and ventral: Abdominal scute with sides straight, only a little wider than
prosomatic carapace, posterior border substraight. Comon eye mound may be
absent (Dibuninae), when present it is narrow, low, without depression, usually with
strong median spine, seldom unarmed. In many species, the scutal areas I and II
are fused, an unique feature among Laniatores. Scutal areas with varied armature,
usually unarmed or with a pair of acute high spines. Free tergites tipically smooth
and unarmed. Sternum straight, widening and bifurcating a bit near genital
operculum. Stigmata clearly visible.
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•
Pedipalp: Coxa very long. Femur usually very elongate, may bear ventral rows of
spines and sometimes dorsal tuberculation. Patella may be very long, widening
abruptly distally. Tibia and tarsus with powerful ventro-ectal and ventro-distal
spines. Claw extremely long at least equal to tarsal length and applied against it.
•
Chelicera: Heavy with strong dentition in both fingers. Hand much swollen in male.
•
Legs: long and thin, especially tibia and tarsus I-II filiform. Coxa IV barely visible
under scute; femur I without ventral row of spines; femur IV unarmed, straight;
tarsi III-IV with a pair of claws smooth or pectinate and with or without thick
scopulae. Distitarsus I 2-3 segmented, II 2-4 segmented. Tarsal claws are extemely
diverse: they may be angulated, possess a large basal lobe or bear secondary mesal
processes.
•
Genitalia: Ventral plate of penis not sharply defined, with distal border concave or
entire, setae arranged in a circle around the capsula interna; follis well developed,
partially sunken into truncus. Structures of capsula interna more or less fused to
each other.
•
Color pattern: Most species are light brown with sparse black mottling. A few
possess white patches on scutum.
•
Sexual dimorphism: In chelicera and pedipalpus.
3. Distribution
The Epedanidae are endemic of Asia. The Dibuninae are one of the dominant
components of the opilionofauna of the Philippines. The other 3 subfamilies are more
abundant in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. They also occur in Burma (Myanmar) and
highlands of Nepal. There are a few records from Japan, southern China and Vietnam.
4. Relationships
The Epedanidae were included by Kury (1993) in a cladistic analysis of what is now
known as the Grassatores, and resulted as the sister group of the Gonyleptoidea. The loose
structure of glans and follis seem to support this view. Internal relationships of the four
subfamilies has not been researched.
5. References
Kury, Adriano B., 1993. Análise filogenética de Gonyleptoidea (Arachnida, Opiliones,
Laniatores). Unpublished Ph. D. Thesis. Universidade de São Paulo.
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Kury, Adriano B., 2003. Annotated catalogue of the Laniatores of the New World
(Arachnida, Opiliones). Revista Ibérica de Aracnología, volumen especial monográfico,
1: 5-337.
Loman, Jan Cornelis Christiaan. 1902. Neue aussereuropaische Opilioniden. Zoologische
Jahrbücher, Jena, Abteilung für Systematik, Ökologie und Geographie der Tiere, 16:
163-216, pr. 9.
Mello-Leitão, Candido Firmino de. 1949. Famílias, subfamília, espécies e gêneros novos de
opiliões e notas de sinonímia. Boletim do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, N.S. Zoologia,
94: 1-33.
Pocock, Reginald Innes. 1903. Fifteen new species and two new genera of tropical southern
Opiliones. Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Zoology, Botany and Geology,
London, 7th Series, 11: 433-450, 2 pl.
Roewer, Carl-Friedrich. 1927. Weitere Weberknechte I. (1. Ergänzung der Weberknechte
der Erde 1923). Abhandlungen der Naturwissenschaftlichen Verein zu Bremen, 26(2):
261-402.
Roewer, Carl-Friedrich. 1938. Weitere Weberknechte IX. Über Acrobuninae, Epedaninae
und Sarasinicinae. Veröffentlichungen aus dem Deutschen Kolonial- und ÜberseeMuseum in Bremen, Bremen, 2(2): 81-169.
Simon, Eugène. 1879. Essai d'une classification des Opiliones Mecostethi. Remarques
synonymiques et descriptions d'espèces nouvelles. Annales de la Société Entomologique
de Belgique, Bruxelles, 22: 183-241.
Sørensen, William. 1886. Opiliones. In Koch, L. & Keyserling, E., Die Arachniden
Australiens nach der Natur beschrieben und abgebildet, 2(33): 53-86, pl. 5-6.
Nürnberg: Bauer & Raspe.
Suzuki, Seisho. 1969. On a collection of opilionids from South East Asia. Journal of
Sciences of the Hiroshima University, series B1 (Zoology), 22(2): 11-77.
Suzuki, Seisho. 1976. Report on a collection of opilionids from Pasoh Forest Reserve, west
malaysia. Nature and life in Southeast Asia, Kyoto, 7: 9-38, 13 figs.
Suzuki, Seisho. 1977. Report on a collection of opilionids from the Philippines. Journal of
Sciences of the Hiroshima University, series B1 (Zoology), 27(1): 1-120.
Thorell,
Tord
Tamerlan
Theodor.
1877.
Descrizione
di
alcune
specie
di
Opilioni
dell’Archipelago Malese, appartenenti al Museo Civico di Genova. Annali del Museo Civico
di Storia Naturale di Genova, 9: 111-138.
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Captions for illustrations:
Fig 1. Pasohnus bispinosus Suzuki, 1976 from Malaysia, male, habitus, lateral view (From
Suzuki, 1976).
Fig 2. Dibunus albitarsus (Roewer, 1927) from Philippines, male, habitus, lateral view and
detail of pedipalpus, mesal view (From Roewer, 1927).
Figs 3-14. Gen. spp. Left chelicerae, frontal view, sample of diversity in the family. (All
from Roewer, 1938).
Fig 15. Takaoia sp. from Malaysia, pedipalpus and chelicerae, lateral view (photo Darrell
Ubick, CAS).
Fig 16. Takaoia sp. from Malaysia, distal part of penis, dorso-lateral view (photo Darrell
Ubick, CAS).
Fig 17. Dibunus sp. from Philippines, distal part of penis, dorso-lateral view (photo A. Kury,
UNICAMP).
[Ricardo: I am not sure if it is really necessary to include the names of the species sampled
in figs 3-14, but in any case, here they go:]
3: Epedanus javanus Thorell, 1876 (Indonesia)
4: Tegestria sumatrana Roewer, 1938 (Indonesia)
5: Pseudobiantes japonicus Hirst 1911 (Japan)
6: Kilungius bimaculatus Roewer, 1915 (Taiwan)
7: Thyreotus bifasciatus Thorell, 1889 (Burma)
8: Euepedanus trispinosus Roewer, 1915 (Malaysia)
9: Lobonychium palpiplus Roewer, 1938 (Indonesia)
10: Takaoia similis Roewer, 1915 (Taiwan)
11: Takaoia sauteri Roewer, 1911 (Taiwan)
12: Mosfora silvestrii (Roewer, 1927) (Taiwan)
13: Metacrobunus macrochelis Roewer, 1915 (Malaysia)
14: Tegestria johorea Roewer, 1936 (Malaysia)
A. Kury - Epedanidae
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