Monomontia Lawrence, 1931

Schönhofer, Axel L., 2008, On harvestmen from the Soutpansberg, South Africa, with description of a new species of Monomontia (Arachnida: Opiliones), African Invertebrates 49 (2), pp. 109-109 : 115

Genus Monomontia Lawrence, 1931

Characters used for species definition within the genus, such as armature of the femur of the palp, do not show much morphological variation within the genus or in the related genera Ceratomontia Roewer, 1914 and Austromontia Lawrence, 1931 . This is most probably because of morphological stasis to maintain functionality. Other characters, like the shape of the ocularium and body size, exhibit some variability within the single species.At present it is difficult to judge the species status of single specimens or certain populations because the genital morphology for South African Opiliones was generally ignored by Lawrence. Many characters were inconsistently investigated and now are lacking for comparison. Unfortunately, it is very likely that important structures of the penis are revealed only in the expanded state, what was never studied. Nevertheless, a thorough revision of the genus by genital morphological characters is needed.