Acihasta
| Acihasta | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Opiliones |
| Family: | Neopilionidae |
| Subfamily: | Enantiobuninae |
| Genus: | Acihasta Forster, 1948 |
| Species: | A. salebrosa
|
| Binomial name | |
| Acihasta salebrosa Forster, 1948
| |
Acihasta is a genus of harvestmen (Opiliones) found in New Zealand. The genus is monotypic, containing a single species, Acihasta salebrosa, which is endemic to Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands.
Description
Achiasta salebrosa has spherical eye mounds, and a coarsely granulated spine and eye mound. The species has a deep median indentation of its cephalothorax, which encloses basal portions of chelicerae and pedipalp. The species' body is tan and dark brown in colour, with white and gold speaks over its body, including on its spines and transverse granular lines.[1][2] It can be distinguished due to the species' opisthosoma having large flanking spines on the lateral margins of its dorsum.[3]
Taxonomy
Both the genus and species were described by the same paper by Ray Forster in 1948. The description was based on a single specimen collected by Graham Turbott from Great Island in the Three Kings Group in April 1946. The holotype is kept at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.[1][4][5] When describing the genera Achiasta and Monoscutum, Forster found them difficult to place, and decided to create a subfamily to contain these, Monoscutinae.[6] Monoscutinae was synonymised with the Enantiobuninae subfamily of Neopilionidae in 2013.[3][7]
Phylogenetic analysis indicated the closest relatives to Acihasta are the genera Monoscutum and Australiscutum.[7]
Distribution
The species is endemic to the Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, northwest of mainland New Zealand.[8]
References
- ^ a b Forster, R. R. (1948). "A New Sub-Family and Species of New Zealand Opiliones". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 3: 313–318. ISSN 0067-0464. JSTOR 42906020. Wikidata Q58676671.
- ^ Pinto-da-Rocha, Ricardo; Giribet, Gonzalo (2007). "Taxonomy". In Pinto-da-Rocha, Ricardo; Machado, Glauco; Giribet, Gonzalo (eds.). Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones. Harvard University Press. p. 120. doi:10.2307/j.ctv322v442.8. ISBN 978-0674023437.
- ^ a b Taylor, Christopher K. (3 September 2013). "Further revision of the genus Megalopsalis (Opiliones, Neopilionidae), with the description of seven new species". ZooKeys (328): 59–117. doi:10.3897/ZOOKEYS.328.5439. ISSN 1313-2989. PMC 3800822. PMID 24146548. Wikidata Q21191495.
- ^ "Acihasta salebrosa". Collections Online. Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
- ^ Powell, A. W. B. (1949). "Biological Primary Types in the Auckland Museum: No. 3. Zoological (supplement)". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 3 (6): 403–409. ISSN 0067-0464. JSTOR 42906034. Wikidata Q58676696.
- ^ Forster, R. R. (1948). "The Zoogeographical Relationships of The New Zealand Opiliones" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 77: 233–235. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89183091.
- ^ a b Vélez, Sebastián; Fernández, Rosa; Giribet, Gonzalo (2014). "A molecular phylogenetic approach to the New Zealand species of Enantiobuninae (Opiliones : Eupnoi : Neopilionidae)". Invertebrate Systematics. 28 (6): 565. doi:10.1071/IS14030. ISSN 1445-5226. Wikidata Q54716106.
- ^ Taylor, Christopher K. (23 February 2011). "Revision of the genus Megalopsalis (Arachnida: Opiliones: Phalangioidea) in Australia and New Zealand and implications for phalangioid classification". Zootaxa. 2773 (1): 1. doi:10.11646/ZOOTAXA.2773.1.1. ISSN 1175-5334. Wikidata Q97558346.