Suborder Laniatores Rank Family | Superfamily Travunioidea | |
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Similar Travuniidae, Ceratolasmatidae, Dicranolasmatidae, Phalangodidae, Sironidae | ||
The Cladonychiidae are a small family of harvestman with less than twenty described species, within the suborder Laniatores.
Contents
Description
Members of this family range from less than two to about four millimeters in body length, with robust, spined pedipalps and rather short legs, although the second pair can be as long as two centimeter. Most Cladonychiidae are reddish brown to dark brown, but cave-dwelling species are pale yellow. Not all species have eyes.
Distribution
The genus Holoscotolemon is palearctic, ranging from France to Romania and Serbia and Montenegro, with most species found in northern Italy. All other genera are found in the United States.
Fossils
Proholoscotolemon was recently found in Baltic amber.
Relationships
Cladonychiidae are possibly related to Pentanychidae. If this is the case, the Cladonychiidae from the eastern US would be basal to the family.
Name
The name of the former type genus Cladonychium (now synonymized with Erebomaster) is derived from Ancient Greek "branched claw".