''Chelypus'' ('clawfoot') is a genus of slow-moving, burrowing sunspiders confined to the deserts and arid regions of

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

Description

Chelypus00.jpg, ''Chelypus'' sp., dorsal view Chelypus macroceras ventral.png, ''Chelypus macroceras'', ventral view They are readily separated from other Solifugae by an absence of claws on the fourth pair of legs. Both ''Chelypus'', and the related genus '' Hexisopus'' spend a large part of their existence underground, and their 2nd, 3rd and particularly 4th pair of legs are shortened and robust, and equipped with rake-like spines for digging. Members of the family Hexisopodidae differ markedly in morphology from those of other Solifugae families – most patently in their

fossorial A fossorial animal () is one that is adapted to digging and which lives primarily (but not solely) underground. Examples of fossorial vertebrates are Mole (animal), moles, badgers, naked mole-rats, meerkats, armadillos, wombats, and mole salamand ...

rather than

cursorial A cursorial organism is one that is adapted specifically to run. An animal can be considered cursorial if it has the ability to run fast (e.g. cheetah) or if it can keep a constant speed for a long distance (high endurance). "Cursorial" is often ...

legs. Such extreme modifications often blur relationships with other taxa, and hexisopodid genealogy is no exception. The main external difference between ''Chelypus'' and ''Hexisopus'' is the presence of well-developed spines on the

pedipalp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the secondary pair of forward appendages among Chelicerata, chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to ...

s of ''Chelypus''. Their subterranean way of life makes the family extremely difficult to study.

Distribution

Members of the genus are found mainly in South Africa and Namibia but also in Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana.

Phylogeny

The current phylogeny of Solifugae is lacking in any subordinal or superfamilial arrangement and is largely based on the scheme put forward by

Carl Friedrich Roewer Carl Friedrich Roewer (12 October 1881, in Neustrelitz – 17 June 1963) was a German arachnologist. He concentrated on harvestmen, where he described almost a third (2,260) of today's known species, but also almost 700 taxa of spiders and num ...

in 1934, relying on highly variable characters at both genus and species level. Roewer's system has been challenged by various taxonomists and authors. , the World Solifugae Catalog accepts the following eight species: * '' Chelypus barberi'' Purcell, 1902 — Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe * '' Chelypus eberlanzi'' Roewer, 1941 — Namibia * '' Chelypus hirsti'' Hewitt, 1915 — Botswana, Namibia, South Africa * '' Chelypus lawrencei'' Wharton, 1981 — Namibia * '' Chelypus lennoxae'' Hewitt, 1912 — Namibia, South Africa * '' Chelypus macroceras'' (Roewer, 1933) — Zambia * '' Chelypus shortridgei'' Hewitt, 1931 — Namibia * '' Chelypus wuehlischi'' Roewer, 1941 — Namibia

Bibliography

*
Bibliography
–
''"Catalogue of the Smaller Arachnid Orders of the World"'' - Mark S Harvey (Csiro Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, 2003)
* ''"The Arachnid Fauna of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park – A Revision of the Species of "Mole Solifuges" of the genus Chelypus, Purcell, 1901"'' – Bruno H. Lamoral ("Koedoe" 16: ''83-102'' (1973))

References

External links

''"Solifuges, Camel Spiders"''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5266859 Arachnids of Africa Solifugae genera Taxa named by William Frederick Purcell