The Zalmoxidae are a family of harvestmen within the suborder Laniatores.
Name
Zalmoxis is the name of a
Dacians god.
Description
Zalmoxidae are small Laniatores of dark brown to dark yellow color with varied darker mottling. Some small
edaphic species are pale yellowish. Males of varies species bear sexually dimorphic and embellished armature, particularly in the fourth walking leg.
Distribution
Members of this family are distributed in the tropics on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean, as well as Melanesian archipelagoes and some Micronesian islands. Zalmoxidae do not occur in mainland
Africa or
Madagascar. In the Neotropics, most species occur from
Costa Rica to
Brazil, with a center of diversity in
Venezuela. In the Indo-Pacific, many species in
New Guinea. Two species are found in the
Seychelles and
Mauritius.
Systematics
For a list of currently described species, see the List of Zalmoxidae species.
Relationships
Zalmoxidae is sister to
Fissiphalliidae, with this clade in turn sister to
Icaleptidae. The families
Kimulidae,
Escadabiidae, and
Guasiniidae are the other members of the superfamily Zalmoxoidea.
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Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog: Zalmoxidae
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Kury, A.B., & Pérez González, A. (2007). "Zalmoxidae Sørensen, 1886." In: Pinto-da-Rocha, Machado, Giribet (eds.) Harvestmen - The Biology of Opiliones. Harvard University Press.
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Sharma, P.P. (2012). "New Australasian Zalmoxidae (Opiliones: Laniatores) and a new case of male polymorphism in Opiliones." Zootaxa 3236: 1-35.
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Sharma, P.P., Buenavente, P.A.C., Clouse, R.M., Diesmos, A.C., & Giribet, G. (2012). "Forgotten gods: Zalmoxidae of the Philippines and Borneo (Opiliones: Laniatores)." Zootaxa 3280: 29-55.
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Sharma, P.P., & Giribet, G. (2012). "Out of the Neotropics: Late Cretaceous colonization of Australasia by American arthropods." Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279: 3501-3509.
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Sharma, P.P., Kury, A.B., & Giribet, G. (2011). "Zalmoxidae (Arachnida: Opiliones: Laniatores) of the Paleotropics: a catalogue of Southeast Asian and Indo-Pacific species." Zootaxa 2972: 37-58.
