Chthoniidae

Austrochthonius sp., copyright Kristi Ellingsen.

Belongs within: Pseudoscorpiones.
Contains: Tyrannochthoniini.

The Chthoniidae are a group of pseudoscorpions characterised by differing number of segments in the anterior and posterior pairs of legs (five post-coxal segments in legs I and II vs six in legs III and IV) (Muchmore 1990). Three families have been recognised within the superfamily Chthonioidea, the Chthoniidae, Lechytiidae and Tridenchthoniidae, but molecular phylogenetic analysis indicates that the first is paraphyletic to the latter two (Murienne et al. 2008).

<==Chthoniidae [Chthoniinea, Chthonioidea, Heterosphyronida]
    |--Pseudotyrannochthoniinae MHG08
    |    |--Afrochthonius godfreyi MHG08
    |    `--+--Pseudotyrannochthonius MHG08
    |       `--Selachochthonius MHG08
    `--Chthoniinae MHG08
         |--Chthonius Koch 1843 MHG08, H09
         |    |--C. californicus S62
         |    |--C. coecus Packard 1884 HM06
         |    `--C. tetrachelatus M90
         `--+--+--Apochthonius MHG08
            |  `--Kleptochthonius MHG08
            `--+--+--+--Sathrochthonius insulanus MHG08
               |  |  `--Lechytia [Lechytiidae, Lechytiini] MHG08
               |  |       `--L. hoffi MHG08
               |  `--+--Pseudochthonius squamosus MHG08, L88
               |     `--Tridenchthoniidae [Dithidae, Dithinae, Tridenchthoniinae] M90
               |          |--Anaulacodithella MHG08
               |          |--Verrucaditha spinosa M90
               |          `--Tridenchthonius M90
               `--+--Tyrannochthoniini MHG08
                  `--+--Drepanochthonius MHG08
                     `--Austrochthonius Chamberlin 1929 MHG08, HM06 (see below for synonymy)
                          |--*A. chilensis (Chamberlin 1923) [=Chthonius chilensis] HM06
                          |    |--A. c. chilensis HM06
                          |    |--A. c. magalhanicus HM06
                          |    `--A. c. transversus HM06
                          |--A. argentinae HM06
                          |--A. australis HM06
                          |--A. bolivianus HM06
                          |--A. cavicola HM06
                          |--A. easti HM06
                          |--A. iguazuensis HM06
                          |--A. insularis HM06
                          |--A. mordax HM06
                          |--A. muchmorei Harvey & Mould 2006 (see below for synonymy) HM06
                          |--A. paraguayensis HM06
                          |--A. parvus (Mello-Leitão 1939) [=*Cecoditha parva] HM06
                          |--A. persimilis HM06
                          |--A. rapax HM06
                          |--A. semiserratus HM06
                          |--A. strigosus Harvey & Mould 2006 HM06
                          |--A. tullgreni (Beier 1931) [=*Paraustrochthonius tullgreni] HM06
                          `--A. zealandicus HM06
                               |--A. z. zealandicus HM06
                               `--A. z. obscurus HM06

Chthoniidae incertae sedis:
  Chiliochthonius HM06
  Francochthonius HM06
  Malcolmochthonius HM06
  Mexichthonius HM06
  Tyrannochthoniella HM06
  Congochthonius HM06
  Sathrochthoniella HM06
  Aphrastochthonius M90
  Kewochthonius M90
    |--K. amplus Schuster 1962 S62
    |--K. paludis S62
    |--K. spingolus Schuster 1962 S62
    `--K. stanfordianus Chamberlin 1929 S62

Austrochthonius Chamberlin 1929 MHG08, HM06 [incl. Cecoditha Mello-Leitão 1939 HM06, Paraustrochthonius Beier 1931 HM06]

Austrochthonius muchmorei Harvey & Mould 2006 [=Chthonius caecus Tullgren 1909 non Simon 1885, Mundochthonius caecus, Sathrochthonius tullgreni Chamberlin 1962 non Paraustrochthonius tullgreni Beier 1931] HM06

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[H02] Harvey, M. S. 2009. The first Australasian species of the halophilic pseudoscorpion genus Paraliochthonius (Pseudoscorpiones: Chthoniidae). Records of the Western Australian Museum 25 (3): 329–344.

[HM06] Harvey, M. S., & L. G. Mould. 2006. A new troglomorphic species of Austrochthonius (Pseudoscorpiones: Chthoniidae) from Australia, with remarks on Chthonius caecus. Records of the Western Australian Museum 23 (2): 205–211.

[L88] Liebherr, J. K. 1988. General patterns in West Indian insects, and graphical biogeographic analysis of some circum-Caribbean Platynus beetles (Carabidae). Systematic Zoology 37 (4): 385–409.

[M90] Muchmore, W. B. 1990. Pseudoscorpionida. In: Dindal, D. L. (ed.) Soil Biology Guide pp. 503–527. John Wiley & Sones: New York.

[MHG08] Murienne, J., M. S. Harvey & G. Giribet. 2008. First molecular phylogeny of the major clades of Pseudoscorpiones (Arthropoda: Chelicerata). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 49: 170–184.

[S62] Schuster, R. O. 1962. New species of Kewochthonius Chamberlin from California (Arachnida: Chelonethida). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 75: 223–226.