''Marachernes simulans'' is a
species of
pseudoscorpion in the
Chernetidae family. It is
endemic to Australia. It was
described in 1992 by Australian
arachnologist Mark Harvey
Mark Harvey (born 11 June 1965) is a former Australian rules football player and coach. He played over 200 games during fourteen seasons with the Essendon Football Club, winning three premierships, and was senior coach of Fremantle from 2007 t ...
. The
specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''simulans'' comes from the
Latin ''simulo'' ('imitate' or 'copy') with reference to the similarity between this species and ''
Marachernes perup''.
Description
The body length of the male
holotype is 2.88 mm; that of the female
paratype is 2.80 mm. The colour is mainly yellow-brown, with the
carapace
A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...
and
pedipalps dark red-brown.
Distribution and habitat
The species occurs in
Victoria. The
type locality is
Upper Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield Upper is a town in Victoria, Australia, 45 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Cardinia local government area. Beaconsfield Upper recorded a population of 2,997 at the 2021 cens ...
, some 45 km south-east of the centre of
Melbourne, where the pseudoscorpions were collected from beneath tree bark.
Behaviour
The pseudoscorpions are
terrestrial predators
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...
.
References
Chernetidae
Endemic fauna of Australia
Pseudoscorpions of Australia
Arthropods of Victoria (state)
Animals described in 1992
Taxa named by Mark Harvey
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