''Rhaucus'' is a genus 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. , over 6,650 species of harvestmen have been discovered worldwide, alth ...

in the family

Cosmetidae Cosmetidae is a family of harvestmen in the suborder Laniatores. With over 700 species, it is one of the largest families in Opiliones. They are distributed from Argentina to the southern USA with the highest diversity in northern South Ameri ...

. The genus is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

to the Colombian northern

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. There are currently six described species in the genus.

Taxonomy

There were previously more members of ''Rhaucus'', but a 2017 taxonomic revision reduced to genus to a monotypic lineage and synonymized multiple previously described species with the five remaining species. A previously synonymized species, '' R. papilionaceus'', was revalidated in 2018. ''Rhaucus'' is named for an ancient Cretian town,

Rhaucus Rhaucus or Rhaukos ( grc, Ῥαῦκος) was a town of ancient Crete. From the story told about the Cretan bees by Antenor in his ''Cretica'' it seems that there were two cities of this name in Crete. The existence of two places so called in the ...

Species

''Rhaucus'' contains six species: * ''

Rhaucus florezi Rhaucus or Rhaukos ( grc, Ῥαῦκος) was a town of ancient Crete. From the story told about the Cretan bees by Antenor in his ''Cretica'' it seems that there were two cities of this name in Crete. The existence of two places so called in th ...

'' * ''

Rhaucus papilionaceus Rhaucus or Rhaukos ( grc, Ῥαῦκος) was a town of ancient Crete. From the story told about the Cretan bees by Antenor in his ''Cretica'' it seems that there were two cities of this name in Crete. The existence of two places so called in th ...

'' * ''

Rhaucus quinquelineatus Rhaucus or Rhaukos ( grc, Ῥαῦκος) was a town of ancient Crete. From the story told about the Cretan bees by Antenor in his ''Cretica'' it seems that there were two cities of this name in Crete. The existence of two places so called in th ...

'' * ''

Rhaucus robustus Rhaucus or Rhaukos ( grc, Ῥαῦκος) was a town of ancient Crete. From the story told about the Cretan bees by Antenor in his ''Cretica'' it seems that there were two cities of this name in Crete. The existence of two places so called in th ...

'' * ''

Rhaucus serripes Rhaucus or Rhaukos ( grc, Ῥαῦκος) was a town of ancient Crete. From the story told about the Cretan bees by Antenor in his ''Cretica'' it seems that there were two cities of this name in Crete. The existence of two places so called in th ...

'' * '' Rhaucus vulneratus''

References

Cosmetidae Harvestman genera Endemic fauna of Colombia Arthropods of Colombia Taxa named by Eugène Simon {{Opiliones-stub