Abstract
The harvestmen family Cosmetidae contains more than 700 described species distributed from Argentina to the USA. The monophyly of the family remains undisputed; however, the majority of cosmetid genera are poorly defined and have not been revised using modern systematic approaches. This can be partially attributed to the paucity of information regarding genitalic morphology for most cosmetid species. A better understanding of the diversity of genitalic forms in this family will facilitate more in-depth systematic studies and taxonomic revisions within the family. In this study, we describe two distinct forms of genitalia exhibited by members of the genus Erginulus, compare these forms to the common genitalic morphology of other cosmetid harvestmen, and briefly discuss the systematic implications to be addressed in a subsequent revisionary study.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Maynard Schaus, Jeffrey Illinik, Carlos Víquez and Tatyana Zvonereva for assistance with field collections, Jeremy Huff of the American and Museum of Natural History (AMNH) for assistance with specimen loans, and Ronald Vargas from the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. We would also like to thank Jesús Cruz-López and Oscar Francke from the Colección Nacional de Arácnidos at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México for the loan of specimens and providing access to collection materials during July 2017. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments that helped to improve our manuscript.
Funding
This research was supported by a Virginia Wesleyan University Faculty Summer Development Grant (VRT), a Virginia Federation of Independent Colleges Mednick Fellowship (VRT), and by the VWU SEM laboratory.
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This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors. Specimens from Costa Rica were collected under scientific passport number 05953 (VRT) and legally exported. Specimens from Belize were collected under sampling permit #CD/60/3/12(1) issued by the Belize Ministry of Forestry. This study did not involve endangered or protected species.
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Proud, D.N., Townsend, V.R. Unusual penis morphology among cosmetid harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones) from Mesoamerica. Zoomorphology 138, 233–247 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-019-00432-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-019-00432-w