Cristina

Male Cristina armata, from Roewer (1911).

Belongs within: Phalangiidae.

Cristina is a genus of harvestmen found primarily in eastern Africa, in which the males usually have the first pair of legs more or less thickened and/or heavily denticulate (Staręga 1984).

See also: Disco opilioni.

Characters (from Staręga 1984): Anterior margin of carapace with sharp denticles, of which the medial is usually much longer than the rest. Eye-mounds normal, with 4 + 4 large, pointed denticles or caudally increasing in size and backwards-directed thorns, sometimes only with 2 + 2 pointed denticles, which form a "crown". Abdomen with transverse rows of denticles, of which sometimes the two or three medial are larger than the rest. Chelicerae in male more developed than in female, but without special structures. Pedipalps short and strong, femur, patella and tibia more or less denticulate, tarsus barely curved, ventrally with sensory granules in males. Patella sometimes with apophysis. Legs I of male much stronger than the rest; only exceptionally long and thin. Penis relatively short, with more or less dorso-ventrally flattened shaft; glans (in profile) about banana-shaped, with very long stylus.

<==Cristina Loman 1902 DM10 [incl. Novabunus Goodnight & Goodnight 1944 C92]
    |--*C. crassipes Loman 1902 C92
    |--C. adenia (Roewer 1941) [=Eudasylobus adenius; incl. Paropilio yemenensis Roewer 1956] S84
    |--C. bispinifrons Roewer 1917 [incl. Opilio bolivianus Roewer 1956] S03
    |--C. femoralis (Sørensen 1910) DM10 [=Egaenus femoralis S84]
    |--C. lettowi (Roewer 1923) S03 [=Opilio lettowi S03; incl. C. quadridens Roewer 1956 S84]
    |--C. pachylomera (Simon 1879) (see below for synonymy) S84
    |--C. patellaris (Roewer 1956) [=Dasylobus patellaris] S84
    |--C. pteronia (Sørensen 1910) [=Phalangium pteronium, Dacnopilio pteronius] S84
    |--C. ruandana Kauri 1985 K85
    |--C. somalica (Roewer 1956) [=Eudasylobus somalicus] S84
    |--C. spinosa (Goodnight & Goodnight 1944) S84 [=*Novabunus spinosus C92]
    |--C. villiersi (Roewer 1953) [=Opilio villiersi] S03
    `--C. zavattarii Caporiacco 1939 S03

Cristina pachylomera (Simon 1879) [=Egaenus pachylomerus, Rhampsinitus pachylomerus; incl. Dasylobus africanus Roewer 1952, Cristina armata Roewer 1911, D. denticulatus Kulczyński 1901, Eudasylobus denticulatus, Cristina monoceros Roewer 1915, C. vorbecki Roewer 1923, C. vorbeiki (l. c.)] S84

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[C92] Crawford, R. L. 1992. Catalogue of the genera and type species of the harvestman superfamily Phalangioidea (Arachnida). Burke Museum Contributions in Anthropology and Natural History 8: 1–60.

[DM10] Dunlop, J. A., & L. Mammitzsch. 2010. A new genus and species of harvestman from Baltic amber. Palaeodiversity 3: 23–32.

[K85] Kauri, H. 1985. Opiliones from central Africa. Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika, Turveren, België, Zoologische Wetenschappen, Annalen 245: 1–167.

Roewer, C.-F. 1911. Übersicht der Genera der Subfamilie der Phalangiini der Opiliones Palpatores nebst Beschreibung einiger neuer Gattungen und Arten. Archiv für Naturgesichte 77 (Suppl. 2): 1–106.

[S84] Staręga, W. 1984. Revision der Phalangiidae (Opiliones), III. Die afrikanischen Gattungen der Phalangiinae, nebst Katalog aller afrikanischen Arten der Familie. Annales Zoologici 38 (1): 1–79.

[S03] Staręga, W. 2003. On the identity and synonymies of some Asiatic Opilioninae (Opiliones: Phalangiidae). Acta Arachnologica 52 (2): 91–102.