Cheiridioidea Hansen, 1894

Udson, Ark, 2007, First fossil record of the pseudoscorpion family Pseudochiridiidae (Arachnida, Chelonethi, Cheiridioidea) from Dominican amber, Zootaxa 1393, pp. 45-51 : 46

Superfamily Cheiridioidea Hansen, 1894

The status of the Cheiridioidea is currently a matter of some contention. Harvey (1992) synonymized Cheiridioidea with Garypoidea, but this was rejected by Judson (2000), who reinstated the Cheiridioidea for the families Cheiridiidae and Pseudochiridiidae . Harvey (2002) and Coddington et al. (2004) have since maintained the synonymy of Cheiridioidea with Garypoidea, on the grounds that Judson (2000) had not attempted a “full reanalysis of the character set provided by Harvey (1992).” Such an analysis was hardly necessary because support for Garypoidea sensu Harvey was already ambiguous for the original data set under equal weights. Their criticism is only valid for Judson’s (2000) suggestion that the Cheiridioidea are the sister­group of the Cheliferoidea, which indeed remains untested. In the absence of a substantive response to the arguments against the synonymy of Cheiridioidea with Garypoidea, I continue to treat the Cheiridioidea as a valid superfamily.

The publication date of the names Cheiridioidea and Cheiridiidae has usually been given erroneously as 1893, although some authors (e.g. Hansen 1917) cited the paper in which the subfamily Cheiridiinae was first proposed as being published in 1893–94. Hansen’s (1893 –94) paper appeared in two parts: the first part (pages 137–144) was published in fascicles 2/3 of volume 4, issued together in 1893, and the second part (pages 145–249) in fascicles 4/5 of volume 4, issued together in 1894. The name Cheiridiinae first appears on page 232 of the second part, so the correct date for this, and the coordinate names Cheiridioidea and Cheiridiidae , is 1894 (International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, Article 21.5).