Gonyleptidae is a

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

family of

harvestmen The Opiliones (formerly Phalangida) are an order of arachnids colloquially known as harvestmen, harvesters, harvest spiders, or daddy longlegs. , over 6,650 species of harvestmen have been discovered worldwide, although the total number of extan ...

(Order Opiliones) with more than 800 species, the largest in the Suborder

Laniatores Laniatores is the largest suborder of the arachnid order Opiliones with over 4,000 described species worldwide. The majority of the species are highly dependent on humid environments and usually correlated with tropical and temperate forest habit ...

and the second largest of the Opiliones as a whole. The largest known harvestmen are gonyleptids. Like most

, gonyleptids are almost exclusively nocturnal, except some Caelopyginae, Goniosomatinae, (during reproductive season), Gonyleptinae, Mitobatinae, Pachylinae and Progonyleptoidellinae. Most species inhabit dense tropical, subtropical and temperate (Chile) forests, but some occur in open vegetation as the

Pampas The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazi ...

, the

Cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are the ...

, and the

Caatinga Caatinga (, ) is a type of semi-arid tropical vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation" (''caa'' = forest, v ...

. There are some species that live in caves, but only three

troglobite A troglobite (or, formally, troglobiont) is an animal species, or population of a species, strictly bound to underground habitats, such as caves. These are separate from species that mainly live in above-ground habitats but are also able to live u ...

s are recorded for the family.

Name

The family is named after the type genus ''Gonyleptes'', which is derived from Greek ''gony, gonatos'' = joint, knee + ''leptos, ê, on'' = thin, fine, delicate. Gg

Diagnosis

Laniatores with coxa IV immensely developed, widely surpassing dorsal scutum in dorsal view in most species. Many species with double

ozopore An ozopore is the opening of a defensive gland present in some arthropods, notably in millipedes of the order Polydesmida Pedipalpus Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the second pair of appendages of chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicerae ("jaws") and ...

with cylindrical segments, strongly spined, tibia and tarsus flattened ventrally. Basal segments of leg IV with strong sexual dimorphism, shown either in spination, curvature or length. Penis with ventral plate well defined, glans may bear ventral and/or dorsal processes.

Distribution

Recorded continuously from the southernmost tip of the

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

n continent (Southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and Argentina), Falklands to Costa Rica, with one isolated species cited from Guatemala.

Subfamilies

At the moment, Gonyleptidae comprises 16 subfamilies, 284 genera and 823 species: * Ampycinae (2 genera; 3 species) * Bourguyiinae (8; 15) * Caelopyginae (9; 29) * Cobaniinae (1; 2) * Goniosomatinae (5; 46) * Gonyassamiinae (2; 3) * Gonyleptinae (38; 142) * Hernandariinae (4; 12) * Heteropachylinae (8; 11) * Mitobatinae (1; 45) * Pachylinae (129; 400) * Pachylospeleinae (1; 1) * Progonyleptoidellinae (10; 17) * Roeweriinae * Sodreaninae (4; 5) * Tricommatinae (29; 51) Note: Metasarcinae was formerly included as a subfamily of Gonyleptidae, now raised to family level: Metasarcidae.

Relationships

Gonyleptidae is the sister-group of Cosmetidae and both are related to the Stygnidae and Cranaidae (Kury, 1992).

References

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2348217 Harvestman families