The Neopilionidae are 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 ...

. It has a clearly

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 Australia, South Africa and South America; they probably represent

relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...

s of that time. The family members range in size from the small ''Americovibone lancafrancoae'' (0.9 mm) to over 4 mm in the Enantiobuninae. (2007): Neopilionidae Lawrence, 1931. In: Pinto-da-Rocha ''et al.'' 2007: 121ff Some species of Enantiobuninae have blue pigmentation, which is rather unusual in harvestmen. The former family "Monoscutidae" has recently been subsumed within the subfamily Enantiobuninae.

Name

The family name is a contraction of

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''neo'' "new" and Latin '' Opilio'', a genus of harvestman.

Subdivisions

According to the

Catalogue of Life The Catalogue of Life (CoL) is an online database that provides an index of known species of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. It was created in 2001 as a partnership between the global Species 2000 and the American Integrated Taxono ...

, Neopilionidae includes three subfamilies, which contain a total of 19 genera and 78 species. * Ballarrinae Hunt & Cokendolpher, 1991 ** '' Americovibone'' Hunt & Cokendolpher, 1991 ** '' Arrallaba'' Hunt & Cokendolpher, 1991 ** '' Ballarra'' Hunt & Cokendolpher, 1991 ** '' Plesioballarra'' Hunt & Cokendolpher, 1991 ** '' Vibone'' Kauri, 1961 * Enantiobuninae Mello-Leitão, 1931 (incl. Monoscutidae) ** '' Acihasta'' Forster, 1948 ** '' Australiscutum'' Taylor, 2009 ** '' Forsteropsalis'' Taylor, 2011 ** ''

Mangatangi Mangatangi is a locality about 7 km east of Mangatāwhiri and 10.5 km west of Miranda in the Waikato District in the North Island of New Zealand. Mangatangi Reservoir in the Hunua Ranges to the north was created by the Mangatangi Dam, a rol ...

'' Taylor, 2013 ** '' Megalopsalis'' Roewer, 1923 ** '' Monoscutum'' Forster, 1948 ** '' Neopantopsalis'' Taylor & Hunt, 2009 ** '' Pantopsalis'' Simon, 1879 ** '' Spinicrus'' Forster, 1949 ** ''

Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a military order of the Catholic faith, and one of the most important military orders in Western Christianity. They were founded in 11 ...

'' Taylor, 2008 ** '' Tercentenarium'' Taylor, 2011 ** '' Thrasychiroides'' Soares & Soares, 1947 ** '' Thrasychirus'' Simon, 1884 * Neopilioninae Lawrence, 1931 ** '' Neopilio'' Lawrence, 1931

Footnotes

References

* Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog
Neopilionidae
* (eds.) (2007): Harvestmen - The Biology of Opiliones. ''Harvard University Press'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q3110290 Harvestmen Harvestman families