Gjellerupia Roewer, 1913

Sharma, Prashant P., Kury, Adriano B. & Giribet, Gonzalo, 2011, Zalmoxidae (Arachnida: Opiliones: Laniatores) of the Paleotropics: a catalogue of Southeast Asian and Indo-Pacific species, Zootaxa 2972, pp. 37-58 : 39

Genus Gjellerupia Roewer, 1913

Gjellerupia Roewer, 1913b , p. 158; 1915, p. 20; 1923, p. 107; Staręga, 1989, p. 5. Gjellerupiola [partim.]: Roewer, 1949a, p. 29.

Zalmoxis [partim.]: Goodnight & Goodnight, 1957, p. 81.

Type species. Gjellerupia neoguinensis Roewer, 1913 , by monotypy.

Gender. Feminine.

Diagnosis. Ocularium wider than long, well displaced from anterior margin of carapace, finely granulated. Closely spaced pair of small spines under the eyes. Scutum with five clear, parallel sulci, not connected by a median longitudinal sulcus. Posterior scutum and free tergites armed with small spines. Spiracles visible. Proximal segment of chelicera with prominent bulla. Tarsal formula 3–4: 7–10: 5–7: 6–8.

Remarks. The large number of tarsal articles of these species as well as their general appearance supports placement outside Zalmoxidae , but tarsal formula has received criticism as an arbiter in systematics ( Goodnight & Goodnight, 1953). While we suspect that Gjellerupia may be true Zalmoxidae, the brightline for inclusion in the family is the presence of the rutrum and the pergula (Kury & Pérez-González, 2007), and the genitalic morphology of these species is not known. One image of a zalmoxid penis ascribed to a Gjellerupia does appear in publication (Kury & Pérez-González, 2007), but this image was taken by one of the authors (A.B.K.; 1994) who later suspected the validity of the identification (it may have been a Zalmoxis ). For the present, we maintain Gjellerupia as incertae sedis and endeavor to undertake investigation of its placement in future study.