Gonyleptes ornatus, Say, 1821

Kury, Adriano B. & Medrano, Miguel, 2023, Once upon a time in America: recognition of the species of Libitioides from USA, with comments on other American Cosmetidae (Opiliones, Laniatores), European Journal of Taxonomy 875 (1), pp. 101-141 : 104

[1] The first cosmetid ( ornatus )

There were already 54 species of harvestmen described in the world, when William Kirby (1819) described the first three Laniatores Thorell, 1876 (two from Brazil, one from Uruguay), placing them in the new genus Gonyleptes Kirby, 1819 . In the very next paper in the taxonomic story of Opiliones Sundevall, 1833 , Thomas Say (1821) described the first laniator from the USA, Gonyleptes ornatum Say, 1821 . This was also the first species described of what we now know as Cosmetidae . Say was, therefore, the first to conceive what would later become the Laniatores (as we consider today), by recognizing the intimate relationship between what are now gonyleptids and cosmetids. Soon later, other researchers ( Perty 1833; Hope 1836) proposed a different hypothesis (today refuted), by joining the cosmetids with what are now the Eupnoi Hansen & Sørensen, 1904.

Say described the new species Gonyleptes ornatum Say, 1821 (incidentally getting the grammatical inflection incorrectly, in what should have been ornatus , masculine instead of neuter gender) from Cumberland Island, Georgia and East Florida. Say’s description is detailed and accurate enough to allow this species to be recognized without mistake ( Fig. 2a ). The name ‘ornatus’ (‘decorated’), as applied to a cosmetid, is adequate enough, but it has exceedingly low discriminatory value, and indeed, it was later used to name several unrelated species. This species was first combined with Cosmetus Perty, 1833 only 50 years later by Butler (1873).

Figures

Fig. 2.Libitioides spp. from USA, in vivo. a. L. ornata (Say, 1821) (morph A), ♂ and ♀, Florida, Orange, Orlando Wetlands Park (©Mary Keim). b. L. sayi (Simon, 1879) (morph B, “clean”), ♂, Texas, Sherman Co. (©Kate Farkas). c. L. sayi (morph C, “depressa”), ♂, Texas, Kleberg Co., Padre Island National Seashore (©Meghan Cassidy). d. L. albolineata (Sørensen, 1884) (typical morph D), ♂, Georgia, Fulton Co. (©E. Christina Butler). Photos are somewhat cropped.All images used here under written permission.