Platygyndes Roewer, 1943

Pinto-Da-Rocha, Ricardo & Hara, Marcos Ryotaro, 2011, Redescription of Platygyndes Roewer 1943, a false Gonyleptidae, (Arachnida, Opiliones, Cosmetidae), ZooKeys 143, pp. 1-12 : 3

Platygyndes Roewer, 1943 new familial and subfamilial assignment

Platygyndes Roewer, 1943: 16; Soares and Soares 1954: 291 (rdes, cat). Type species Platygyndes titicaca Roewer, 1943, by monotypy.

Praelibitia Roewer, 1956: 442 (type species Praelibitia titicaca Roewer, 1956, by original designation). new synonymy.

Diagnosis.

Platygyndes is a Cosmetidae having the domed and narrow ocularium, instead of the depressed medially and widened one, which is common in eastern and several Andean species. Moreover, this genus possesses the well-marked scutal grooves I–V; the moderately flattened, not dorsally projected pedipalpal femur; and the moderated, laterally flattened pedipalpal tibia which strongly contrast with the typical type observed in the family (strongly flattened and spoon-shaped). On the basis of unarmed domed ocularium and dorsal scutum, the genus seems to be more closely related with Moselabius Roewer, 1956 and Caracarana Roewer, 1956. Moselabius known only after a female can be distinguished from Platygyndes by larger and sparser tubercles on the dorsal scutum and a paramedian pair of the enlarged tubercles on free tergites I–III and thickened tibiae IV. Caracarana differs from Platygyndes by the incrassate femur IV, the pedipalpal tibia with a ventral projection, the thickened and basally constricted tibia IV, the thickened and curved metatarsus IV and the long tarsal process.