Suborder Laniatores Superfamily Assamioidea Rank Family | Order Harvestmen | |
Similar Harvestmen, Podoctidae, Assamiidae, Biantidae, Escadabiidae | ||
Harvestman in the family epedanidae walking mindanao
Epedanidae is a family of the harvestman infraorder Grassatores with about 200 described species. They are the sister group of the Gonyleptoidea.
Contents
The Epedanidae are endemic to Asia. The subfamily Dibuninae forms the predominant harvestman fauna of the Philippines. The other three subfamilies are more predominant in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and some are found in Burma and Nepal. Some species occur outside this region, in India, China, Vietnam and Japan. One species is even endemic to New Guinea.
Description
The body size ranges from two to five millimeters, with thin legs ranging from six to 26 mm. The chelicerae are heavy with strong teeth in both fingers. The pedipalps are long and strong, with powerful spines lining the inside of the claw. Most species are light brown with few black mottling. Some species possess white patches on the scutum. The pedipalps are much more heavily spined in males, together with a swollen cheliceral hand.
Name
The type genus Epedanus is derived from Ancient Greek epedanos "weak, feeble".
Genera
For a list of all currently described species see List of Epedanidae species.
Dibuninae Roewer, 1912
Epedaninae Sørensen, in L. Koch 1886
Acrobuninae Roewer, 1912
Sarasinicinae Roewer, 1923