Huasteca, Cruz-López & Francke, 2015

Cruz-López, Jesús A. & Francke, Oscar F., 2015, Cladistic analysis and taxonomic revision of the genus Karos Goodnight & Goodnight, 1944 (Opiliones, Laniatores, Stygnopsidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 175 (4), pp. 827-891 : 870-871

publication ID

https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12299

persistent identifier

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scientific name

Huasteca
status

GEN. NOV.

HUASTECA GEN. NOV.

Karos: Goodnight & Goodnight 1971: 34 , 36, figs 6, 7, 10–13 (in part); Šilhavý, 1974: 185, figs 22–26, 30–33 (in part).

Distribution: Caves in the Sierra Madre Oriental, eastern Mexico, from central Tamaulipas through to San Luís Potosí, Veracruz, and Hidalgo, and extending south to northern Oaxaca.

Type species: Huasteca gratiosa ( Goodnight & Goodnight, 1971) comb. nov.

Included species: Huasteca gratiosa ( Goodnight & Goodnight, 1971) comb. nov., Huasteca rugosa ( Goodnight & Goodnight, 1971) comb. nov., and Huasteca silhavyi sp. nov.

Etymology: Noun in apposition in reference to a cultural area of central Mexico and an ancient Mayan ethnic group who inhabited the states of Hidalgo, Queretaro, San Luís Potosí, Tamaulipas, and Veracruz. The term comes from the nahuatl word huaxi, which means guaje in Spanish ( Crescentia spp. ), and the combination ‘huax-tecos(as)’ refers to the people that inhabit that region, which is where the genus is distributed. Feminine in gender.

Diagnosis: Troglobitic and troglomorphic stygnopsids. Scutum quadrangular, with lateral clear areas remarkably protruding, rounded ( Figs 46B, 49B, 52B, 61D). Lateral channel area of scutum very high, almost opisthosoma height ( Figs 45B, 48B, 51B, 63B). Ocularium inconspicuous, almost absent ( Figs 46D, 49D, 52D), in the middle of prosoma ( Fig. 45B). Dorsal ornamentation ranges from almost absent to completely covered with small, rounded tubercles. Apical portion of femur II in males slightly swollen ( Figs 46C, 49C, 52C, 60C). Stigmatic area short, but slightly longer in males than females ( Figs 45C, 48C, 51C). Male genitalia: pars distalis slightly swollen in the middle, sometimes irregular and asymmetrical. Ventral plate slender and short, apical margin convex. Four pairs of lateral setae, length almost equal to width of pars distalis. Three pairs of ventral microsetae, basal pair separat- ed from the rest. Two pairs of parastylar setae, laterobasal to follis, length of follis similar to width ( Figs 47, 50, 53).

Comparisons: The unusual scutum shape, plus the projections of lateral clear areas, confer to this genus a peculiar appearance. In addition, the sexually dimorphic characters on the legs in males, plus the male genitalia, make this genus easy to recognize within the Karos genus-group and the entire family.

HUASTECA GRATIOSA ( GOODNIGHT & GOODNIGHT, 1971) COMB. NOV.

( FIGS 45–47, 59, 60C)

Karos gratiosus Goodnight & Goodnight 1971: 34 (description of male and female); Karos graciosus [sic] Rambla & Juberthie 1994: 218; Kury & Cokendolpher 2000: 155; Kury, 2003: 238.

Type locality: MEXICO: San Luís Potosí: Municipio Xilitla, Cueva de Poca Ventana (21°23′14.38″N, 98°59′1.32″W) GoogleMaps .

Goodnight CJ, Goodnight ML. 1971. Opilionids (Phalangida) of the family Phalangodidae from Mexican caves. Association for Mexican Cave Studies, Bulletin 4: 33 - 45.

Kury AB, Cokendolpher JC. 2000. Opiliones. In: Llorente- Bousquets JE, Gonzalez-Soriano E, Papayero N, eds. Biodiversidad, taxonomia y biogeografia de artropodos de Mexico: hacia una sintesis de su conocimiento, Vol. II. Mexico, Distrito Federal: CONABIO, 137 - 157.

Kury AB 2003. Annotated catalogue of the Laniatores of the New World (Arachnida, Opiliones). Revista Iberica de Aracnologia. Vol. Especial monografico 1.

Rambla M, Juberthie C. 1994. Opiliones. In: Juberthie C, Decu V, eds. Encyclopaedia Biospeologica, I. Barcelona, Spain: University of Barcelona, 215 - 230.

Silhavy V. 1974. Cavernicolous opilionids from Mexico. Subterranean fauna of Mexico. Part. II. Quaderno Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 171: 175 - 194.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Mollusca

Class

Bivalvia

Order

Hippuritida

Family

Radiolitidae