Cosmetidae is a family of

harvestmen The Opiliones (formerly Phalangida) are an Order (biology), order of arachnids, Common name, colloquially known as harvestmen, harvesters, harvest spiders, or daddy longlegs (see below). , over 6,650 species of harvestmen have been discovered w ...

in the suborder

Laniatores Laniatores is the largest suborder of the arachnid order Opiliones with over 4,200 described species worldwide. The majority of the species are highly dependent on humid environments and usually correlated with tropical and temperate forest habit ...

. With over 700 species, it is one of the largest families in

Opiliones The Opiliones (formerly Phalangida) are an Order (biology), order of arachnids, Common name, colloquially known as harvestmen, harvesters, harvest spiders, or daddy longlegs (see below). , over 6,650 species of harvestmen have been discovered w ...

. They are endemic of the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

with a

Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America ...

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

distribution where a large fraction of the diversity of Opiliones are represented by this single family. Cosmetidae have the northern extent of their range into the USA, where a small number species occur in the southern states. However, the family is especially diverse in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

; especially the Andean realms. Their range also extends further south into

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and southern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, but they are absent in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Cosmetidae are prevalent in Amazonian region, but only relatively few also occur in Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Several species are also found in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

Description

This family comprises members that may have elaborate white or yellow (but rarely also green/orange/red) markings such as stripes and spots on the dorsal body and peculiar pedipalps strongly compressed and applied on the chelicerae. Some aspects of diagnosis are as follows * Eye mound is very low, saddle shaped, placed on middle of cephalothorax, each ocular globe bears a crest of small pointed tubercles or is smooth. Ozopores slit-like, one opening partially covered by tubercle of coxa II. Scutal areas are often indistinct; sometimes the sulci can be distinguished by color pattern or absence of tubercles; scutum and tergites are typically weakly armed. * Genitalia. Penis are standard gonyleptoid and very conservative, with rectangular ventral plate, puffed sac-glans, well-developed thumb-like dorsal process. See more details in Kury & Pinto-da-Rocha (2007).

Etymology

The family name is derived from the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

'' Cosmetus'', which is from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''kosmetós'' 'ornate'.

Taxonomy

As of 2006, there are 125 genera and 712 species described. Most species belong to '' Cynorta'' (153 spp), ''

Paecilaema ''Paecilaema'' is a genus of harvestmen in the family Cosmetidae. It was first described by Carl Ludwig Koch Carl Ludwig Koch (21 September 1778 – 23 August 1857) was a German entomologist and arachnologist. He was responsible for classify ...

'' (102 spp), '' Flirtea'' and ''

Erginulus ''Erginulus'' is a genus of harvestman, harvestmen in the family Cosmetidae with twenty-nine described species (as of early 2025). The species are from eastern Mexico & Northern Central America, although a few have been described from outlying ge ...

'' (30 spp each). However, there is no reason to believe most of genera of cosmetids are natural groups, except for a few like '' Metavononoides'', '' Cosmetus'' (Kury, 2003) and '' Roquettea'' (Ferreira & Kury 2010). Attempts to organize the family in supra-specific units are hindered by the poorly resolved basic taxonomy. The family was divided into two subfamilies for many years as: Cosmetinae and Discosomaticinae.

Relationships

Cosmetidae is the sister-group of

Gonyleptidae Gonyleptidae is a neotropical family of harvestmen (order Opiliones) with more than 800 species, the largest in the suborder Laniatores and the second largest of the Opiliones as a whole. The largest known harvestmen are gonyleptids. Like most h ...

and both are closely related to the

Stygnidae The Stygnidae are a family of neotropical harvestmen within the suborder Laniatores. Name The name of the type genus is derived from Ancient Greek ''stygnos'' "diabolic being". (2007): Stygnidae Simon, 1879. In: Pinto-da-Rocha ''et al.'' 2007: 2 ...

and

Cranaidae The Cranaidae are a family of neotropical harvestmen within the suborder Laniatores. Name The name of the type genus is derived from Cranaus, the successor of Cecrops I as king of Attica in Greek mythology. (2007): Cranaidae Roewer, 1913. In: Pi ...

(Kury, 1992). The family was subsequently divided into seven subfamilies as: Cosmetinae Koch, 1839
Cynortinae Mello-Leitão, 1933
Discosomaticinae Roewer, 1923
Ferkeriinae Medrano, Kury & Mendes, 2021
Flirteinae Medrano, Kury & Mendes, 2021
Libitiinae Medrano, Kury & Mendes, 2021
Metergininae Medrano, Kury & Mendes, 2021
Taitoinae Medrano, Kury & Mendes, 2021 Below is a scheme of genera now placed into revised subfamilies. Many currently recognised genera remain unplaced in subfamilies. The following genera are recognised, but unplaced in a subfamily: In: *'' Abria'' *'' Acantholibitia'' *'' Anduzeia'' *'' Bokwina'' *'' Boneta'' *'' Caracarana'' *'' Caurimare'' *'' Cocholla'' *''

Colima Colima, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima, is among the 31 states that make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and main city, Colima. Colima is a small state of western Mexico on the cen ...

'' *'' Corosalia'' *'' Cynortellana'' *'' Cynortellina'' *'' Cynortellula'' *'' Cynortesta'' *'' Cynortetta'' *'' Cynortoperna'' *'' Cynortosoma'' *'' Cynortula'' *'' Erginiperna'' *'' Erginoides'' *'' Eucynortoides'' *'' Eucynortula'' *'' Eugnidia'' *'' Eulibitia'' *'' Eupoecilaema'' *'' Frizellia'' *''

Gnidia ''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in tropical and southern Africa and Madagascar; more than half of all the species are endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)A new species of Malagasy ' ...

'' *'' Guaricia'' *'' Guatopia'' *'' Gueroma'' *'' Heterovonones'' *'' Kevonones'' *'' Libitioides'' *'' Libitiosoma'' *'' Litoralia'' *'' Maniapure'' *'' Metacynorta'' *'' Metacynortoides'' *'' Metavonones'' *'' Meterginoides'' *'' Meterginulus'' *'' Michella'' *'' Moselabius'' *'' Namballeus'' *'' Neocynorta'' *'' Opisthopristis'' *'' Palpinus'' *'' Paracynorta'' *'' Pararhauculus'' *'' Paravonones'' *'' Pebasia'' *'' Pelechucia'' *'' Perugnidiella'' *'' Poala'' *''

Portachuelo Portachuelo is a small town in Bolivia. Climate References

Populated places in Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia) {{SantaCruzBO-geo-stub ...

'' *'' Prasiana'' *'' Proerginus'' *'' Prosontes'' *'' Puerilia'' *'' Qarikichkauru'' *'' Reimoserius'' *'' Soaresella'' *'' Socotabius'' *'' Spongaobaria'' *'' Syncynorta'' *'' Tajumulcia'' *'' Tobotanus'' *'' Vononella'' *'' Vononissus'' *'' Vononula'' *'' Zaraxolia''

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1627249 Harvestmen Harvestman families Cosmetidae