The Stygnidae are a family of

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 bi ...

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 ...

within the suborder

Laniatores Laniatores is the largest suborder of the arachnid order Opiliones with over 4,000 described species worldwide. The majority of the species are highly dependent on humid environments and usually correlated with tropical and temperate forest habit ...

Name

The name of the type genus is derived from

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

''stygnos'' "diabolic being". (2007): Stygnidae Simon, 1879. In: Pinto-da-Rocha ''et al.'' 2007: 226ff

Description

Body length ranges from about one to six millimeters. The color ranges from light brown to reddish. Some Heterostygninae have white patches, stripes or spots on the dorsal scutum.

Distribution

The Heterostygninae are found in the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc bet ...

, Nomoclastinae are

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 Colombia, and the Stygninae live from north of the

Tropic of Capricorn The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reach ...

(central South America). Most species live in the Amazonian rainforest. However, half the species have only been collected once, so distribution of species is poorly known.

Relationships

The Stygnidae are sister to

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 ...

and

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 ...

, and belong to the same group inside

Gonyleptoidea Gonyleptoidea is the most diverse superfamily of the Grassatores. It includes around 2,500 species distributed in the tropics. They are characterized by the simplified male genitalia, with the glans free subapical in the truncus. Gonyleptoidea i ...

as these 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 ...

and

Manaosbiidae The Manaosbiidae are a family of neotropical harvestmen within the suborder Laniatores. Name The name of the type genus is combined from Manaus and Ancient Greek ''bios'' "living". (2007): Manaosbiidae. Roewer, 1943. In: Pinto-da-Rocha ''et al ...

. The Stygnidae are

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...

Genera

See the List of Stygnidae species for a list of currently described species. Heterostygninae Roewer, 1913 :* '' Eutimesius'' Roewer, 1913 :* '' Innoxius'' Pinto-da-Rocha, 1997 :* ''

Minax Minax may refer to: * Minax, a brand name of the cardiovascular drug metoprolol * Minax (Ultima), the Ultima game character Species names * '' Austracantha minax'', an Australian spider * ''Bulbophyllum minax'', a type of orchid * ''Dracula mina ...

'' Pinto-da-Rocha, 1997 :* '' Stenostygnellus'' Roewer, 1913 :* '' Stygnidius'' Simon, 1879 :* '' Stygnoplus'' Simon, 1879 :* '' Timesius'' Simon, 1879 :* '' Yapacana'' Pinto-da-Rocha, 1997 Nomoclastinae Roewer, 1943 :* '' Nomoclastes'' Sørensen, 1932 Stygninae Simon, 1879 :* '' Actinostygnoides'' Goodnight & Goodnight, 1942 :* '' Auranus'' Mello-Leitão, 1941 :* '' Iguarassua'' Roewer, 1943 :* '' Kaapora'' Pinto-da-Rocha, 1997 :* '' Metaphareus'' Roewer, 1912 :* '' Niceforoiellus'' Mello-Leitão, 1941 :* '' Ortonia'' Wood, 1869 :* '' Paraphareus'' Goodnight & Goodnight, 1943 :* '' Phareus'' Simon, 1879 :* '' Pickeliana'' Mello-Leitão, 1932 :* '' Planophareus'' Goodnight & Goodnight, 1943 :* '' Protimesius'' Roewer, 1913 :* '' Sickesia'' H.E.M. Soares, 1979 :* '' Stenophareus'' Goodnight & Goodnight, 1943 :* '' Stenostygnoides'' Roewer, 1913 :* '' Stygnus'' Perty, 1833 :* '' Verrucastygnus'' Pinto-da-Rocha, 1997 ''

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertain ...

'' :* '' Gaibulus'' Roewer, 1943

Footnotes

References

* Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog
Stygnopsidae
* (eds.) (2007): Harvestmen - The Biology of Opiliones. ''Harvard University Press'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q584072 Harvestmen Harvestman families