''Ideoblothrus papillon'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

pseudoscorpion Pseudoscorpions, also known as false scorpions or book scorpions, are small, scorpion-like arachnids belonging to the order Pseudoscorpiones, also known as Pseudoscorpionida or Chelonethida. Pseudoscorpions are generally beneficial to humans bec ...

in the

Syarinidae Syarinidae is a family of pseudoscorpions in the order Pseudoscorpiones. There are at least 20 genera and 110 described species in Syarinidae. Genera These 20 genera belong to the family Syarinidae: * '' Aglaochitra'' J. C. Chamberlin, 1952 * ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Australia. It was described in 1991 by Australian

arachnologist Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, ticks, and mites. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly ...

Mark Harvey Mark Harvey (born 11 June 1965) is a former Australian rules football player and coach. He played over 200 games during fourteen seasons with the Essendon Football Club, winning three premierships, and was senior coach of Fremantle from 2007 t ...

. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''papillon'' refers to the type locality.

Description

The body length of the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

male is 2.32 mm; that of the

paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype (biology), isotype ...

female is 2.67 mm. The colour is light reddish-brown. Eyes are absent.

Distribution and habitat

The species occurs in

North West Australia The North West, North West Coast, North Western Australia and North West Australia, are usually informal names for the northern regions of Western Australia, regions of the State of Western Australia. However, some conceptions of "North West A ...

. The type locality is Papillon Cave (C-15), in the

Cape Range The Cape Range is a small subrange of the Kitimat Ranges, located on the southern end of Calvert Island, British Columbia, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three ...

, where the holotype was found beneath a stone in the dark zone.

Behaviour

The pseudoscorpions are cave-dwelling,

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

predators Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

References

Syarinidae Endemic fauna of Australia Pseudoscorpions of Australia Cave arachnids Arthropods of Western Australia Animals described in 1991 Taxa named by Mark Harvey {{pseudoscorpion-stub