The genus Spinicrus is no longer available.
History of the genus[]
- Forster[1] established Spinicrus with the type species Pantopsalis tasmanica Hogg, 1910 from Tasmania, distinguishing it from the New Zealand genus Pantopsalis (Hogg, 1910) on the basis of the presence of a ventral tooth-comb on the pedipalpal claw (a character that had been accorded high significance in the artificial classification of Eupnoi used by Roewer 1923).
- Forster[1]assigned two new species S. camelus Forster, 1949 and S. stewarti Forster, 1949 to the genus, and suggested that Pantopsalis continentalis Roewer, 1923 of Queensland might also belong to Spinicrus.
- Kauri[2] assigned two species from Western Australia to the genus, S. minimum Kauri, 1954 and S. porongorupense' Kauri, 1954.
- Hickman[3] later described two new species from Tasmania, S. nigricans Hickman, 1957 and S. thrypticum Hickman, 1957.
- Despite having only eight species, the genus was always an unsatisfactory group. Neither of the defining characters of the genus (absence of a pedipalp apophysis and presence of a toothed pedipalp claw) was unique to Spinicrus and both are likely to be plesiomorphic for Enantiobuninae as a whole[4].
- Taylor and Hunt[5] separated S. camelus and S. continentale from Spinicrus as part of the morphologically distinct genus Neopantopsalis Taylor & Hunt, 2009.
- In his phylogenetic analysis of Enantiobuninae by Taylor[4], Spinicrus was not identified as monophyletic.
- In 2013[6], Taylor expanded his analysis with the addition a further seven new species that would have been assigned to Spinicrus. The genus was identified as paraphyletic with regard to the genera Megalopsalis and Hypomegalopsalis Taylor, 2011, and all three genera are combined into a single genus Megalopsalis.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Forster, R.R. (1949a) Australian Opiliones. Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, 16, 59–89. Melbourne.
- ↑ Kauri, H. (1954) Report from Professor T. Gislén's expedition to Australia in 1951–1952. 9. Harvest-spiders from S. W. Australia. Lunds Universitets Årsskrift, N.F. Avd 50(11)[Kungl. Fysiografiska sållskapets Handlingar, N.F. 65(11)], 3–10.
- ↑ Hickman, V.V. (1957) Some Tasmanian harvestmen of the sub-order Palpatores. Papers and proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, Hobart Town, 91, 65–79.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Taylor, C.K. (2011) Revision of the genus Megalopsalis (Arachnida: Opiliones: Phalangioidea) in Australia and New Zealand and implications for phalangioid classification. Zootaxa, 2773, 1–65.
- ↑ Taylor, C.K. & Hunt, G. (2009) New genus of Megalopsalidinae (Arachnida: Opiliones: Monoscutidae) from north-eastern Australia. Zootaxa, 2130, 41–59.
- ↑ Taylor, C.K. (2013b) Further revision of the genus Megalopsis (Opiliones, Neopilionidae), with the description of seven new species. Zookeys, 328, 59-117