The Eupnoi are a suborder of harvestmen, with more than 200 genera, and about 1,700 described species. They consist of two superfamilies, the Phalangioidea with many long-legged species common to northern temperate regions, and the small group Caddoidea, which have prominent eyes and spiny

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. (2007): Morphology and Functional Anatomy. In: Pinto-da-Rocha ''et al.'' 2007: 17f Examples of this suborder include '' Hadrobunus grandis'' (Sclerosomatidae), '' Phalangium opilio'' and '' Dicranopalpus ramosus'' (Phalangiidae).

Distribution

Caddoidea are mostly found in temperate zones of both hemispheres; however, they are known from the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

only from

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and from

Baltic amber Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...

(about 40 million years old). One species known from Japan is also found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, where several more species are found. Other species occur in Southern

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 ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Neopilionidae show a

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

n distribution, with species found in South America,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and Australia. Sclerosomatidae are divided into several subfamilies, with Gagrellinae found in the Indo-Malayan and neotropical region, Gyinae at high elevations in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

and

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

, Leiobuninae in the holarctic region down to

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, and Sclerosomatinae only in the Palearctic. In the Phalangiidae, the Phalangiinae are most diverse in the Mediterranean, with several endemic genera in nearby coastal Africa. Although there are several Phalangiinae in the Nearctic, they are all introduced. Opilioninae are mostly palearctic, with a few species found in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. Oligolophinae are holarctic, with most species found in Europe. Platybuninae are also found from Europe to the Caucasus, with one find from

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

. (2007): Phylogeny and Biogeography. In: Pinto-da-Rocha ''et al.'' 2007

Relationships

Two different views exist at the moment: in the traditional view Eupnoi and

Dyspnoi Dyspnoi is a suborder of harvestmen, currently comprising 43 extant genera and 356 extant species, although more species are expected to be described in the future. The eight families are currently grouped into three superfamilies: the Acropsopil ...

form a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

, with

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 ...

as a sister group; however recently it has been proposed that Eupnoi are sister to a clade formed by Dyspnoi and Laniatores.

Systematics

Although the two recognized superfamilies Caddoidea and Phalangoidea are probably monophyletic, the limits of families and subfamilies are uncertain in many cases, and are in urgent need of further study. :''Genus and species numbers are approximate for after 2020.'' * Caddoidea ** Caddidae (1 genus) * Phalangioidea ** Globipedidae (6 genera) ** Neopilionidae (19 genera) ** Phalangiidae (about 50 genera) ** Protolophidae ** Sclerosomatidae (about 150 genera) **- Hesperopilio (1 genus, unplaced to family) The supposed family " Stygophalangiidae", with its sole described species '' Stygophalangium karamani'' Oudemans, 1933 from former

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

is not a harvestman, but very likely a species of

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as eac ...

. For Monoscutidae, See transfer to the Neopilionidae Enantiobuninae by Taylor (2011).

Footnotes

References

Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog
(2005) * (eds.) (2007): Harvestmen - The Biology of Opiliones. ''Harvard University Press''

External links

* *

Further internal navigation links

{{Opiliones Harvestmen Arthropods of South America Arthropod suborders