Neocranaus armatissimus ( Mello-Leitão, 1941 )

Villarreal, Osvaldo, González-Gómez, Julio César, Kury, Adriano B. & García, Luis Fernando, 2024, Peering beyond the monotypic veil: taxonomy and notes on the parental care of Neocranaus (Opiliones: Gonyleptoidea: Cranaidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 925, pp. 292-320 : 302-303

Neocranaus armatissimus ( Mello-Leitão, 1941)

Mitobatulina armatissima Mello-Leitão, 1941: 170 , fig. 5.

Mitobatulina armatissima – Soares & Soares 1949: 235.

Neocranaus armatissimus – Kury 2003: 95.

Type data

COLOMBIA • ♀ (holotype); [Putumayo], Puerto Asis; (whereabouts unknown) .

Remarks

In the current state of knowledge of the family, the generic assignment is challenging in many cases. Neocranaus armatissimus is known only from the female description, and we have not been able to study the type specimen. Based on the original description, this species exhibits characteristics suggesting its placement in the genus Neocranaus . However, a study of the male genitalia and secondary sexual characters could confirm or refine its generic assignment. This species also appears to be related to some species currently assigned to the genus Phareicranaus Roewer, 1913 ( festae group), but further analysis is needed. Some species within Phareicranaus , specifically those treated as the festae group ( Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury 2003), share morphological characters with Neocranus + Mitobatulina , suggesting a potential relationship. Resolving Mitobatulina ’s taxonomic position would require evaluating its relationships with Phareicranaus , Neocranaus , and Nieblia in a phylogenetic context. However, this exceeds the scope of our current project and might lead to the necessity of dismemberment of Phareicranaus as defined in Pinto-da-Rocha & Bonaldo (2011). The name Nieblia is available in the literature and could potentially be a senior synonym for Mitobatulina .

In light of this, we propose to kept Mitobatulina from synonymy with Neocranus until a comprehensive analysis is conducted.

Distribution

Colombia, Putumayo Department.

Remarks

Our preliminary work on the phylogenetic relationships of the genera in Cranaidae has shown that Mitobatulina armatissima does not belong to Neocranaus . Therefore, we consider not including it in the taxonomic treatment of the article. However, in the current state of knowledge of the family, it is impossible to assign this species to any valid genus. Mitobatulina exhibits an exomorphology distinct from Neocranaus as diagnosed in this study. Some species within Phareicranaus , specifically those treated as the festae group ( Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury 2003), share morphological characters with Mitobatulina , suggesting a potential relationship between M. arthrocentrica and the festae species group. Resolving Mitobatulina ’s taxonomic position would require evaluating its relationships with Phareicranus, Neocranaus , and Nieblia in a phylogenetic context. However, this exceeds the scope of our current project and might lead to the necessity of dismemberment of Phareicranaus as defined in Pinto-da-Rocha & Bonaldo (2011). The name Nieblia is available in the literature and could potentially be a senior synonym for Mitobatulina . In light of this, we propose removing Mitobatulina from synonymy with Neocranus and consider it as a subjective junior synonym of Phareicranaus .