LAMPROCHERNETINAE Beier, 1932

Harvey, Mark S., Ratnaweera, Pamoda B., Udagama, Preethi V. & Wijesinghe, Mayuri R., 2012, A new species of the pseudoscorpion genus Megachernes (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae) associated with a threatened Sri Lankan rainforest rodent, with a review of host associations of Megachernes, Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 46 (41 - 42), pp. 2519-2535 : 2521-2522

Subfamily LAMPROCHERNETINAE Beier

Remarks

Harvey (1995) discussed the composition of the Lamprochernetinae , which was restricted to those chernetids with T-shaped spermathecae. Although the genera Allochernes Beier, 1932 , Lamprochernes Tömösváry, 1882 , Lasiochernes Beier, 1932 , Megachernes , Nudochernes Beier, 1935 , Pselaphochernes Beier, 1932 and Wyochernes Hoff, 1949 were included by Harvey (1995), it now appears that Wyochernes does not have T-shaped spermathecae ( Muchmore 1996) and is better placed in the Chernetinae, despite the lack of a precise subfamilial definition ( Harvey 1995).

The differences between Megachernes and Lasiochernes are slight and rest on the presence of a rounded protuberance on the posterolateral corner of coxa IV of Megachernes , which is absent in Lasiochernes . Beier (1932) claimed that the relative position of the tactile seta on legs III and IV differed between the genera, near the middle of the segment in Megachernes and more distally placed in Lasiochernes , but subsequent descriptions of other species of Lasiochernes suggest that a medial position typical of Megachernes species also occurs ( Beier 1949, 1961, 1963), casting doubt on the utility of this feature. Other consistent differences may occur in the female genitalia, but too few species of either genus have been examined so far to establish whether this feature is reliable. The spermathecal arms of Lasiochernes siculus Beier, 1961 , the only species described to date, are short ( Callaini 1986), whereas those of Megachernes are extremely elongated and T-shaped as described for Megachernes pavlovskyi Redikorzev, 1949 ( Vachon 1938, fig. 56k), Megachernes ochotonae Krumpál and Keifer, 1982 ( Krumpál and Kiefer 1982, fig. 7) and Megachernes tuberosus Mahnert, 2009 ( Mahnert 2009, fig. 25).

The southeast Asian chernetid genus Chiridiochernes Muchmore, 1972 is also associated with rodents and has posterolaterally enlarged fourth coxae characteristic of Megachernes . Chiridiochernes differs in numerous ways from Megachernes including the lack of a tactile seta on tarsi III and IV, the lack of trichobothrium st, a prominent rounded process on the proximal region of the prolateral face of the male pedipalpal femur, flattened pedipalpal segments and the junction between the femur and patella of legs I and II more like cheiridioids than cheliferoids ( Muchmore 1972). The sole named species of the genus, Chiridiochernes platypalpus Muchmore, 1972 from Sulawesi, is only known from a single adult male ( Muchmore 1972). Dr M. Judson (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris) kindly informed us (in litt., 16 March 2012) that females of an undescribed species of Chiridiochernes have T-shaped spermathecae and therefore conform to current diagnoses of Lamprochernetinae , to which it is here transferred.