Family NEOPILIONIDAE Lawrence, 1931

Museums

Regional Maps

Introduction

Hunt & Cokendolpher (1991) provided a cladistic analysis of all Neopilionidae genera, along with several other phalangioids. They concluded that although the Ballarrinae was resolved as a monophyletic unit, the relationships of the group were unresolved. One analysis placed the ballarrines with Neopilio Lawrence, while another placed them as the sister-group to the Enantiobuninae. Although they placed the Ballarrinae within the Neopilionidae, they suggested that the group probably warranted recognition at the family level.

The Neopilionidae are currently divided into two subfamilies, Neopilioninae for Neopilio and Ballarrinae for the remaining genera, Ballarra Hunt & Cokendolpher, Arrallaba Hunt & Cokendolpher, Plesioballarra Hunt & Cokendolpher, Vibone Kauri and Americovibone Hunt & Cokendolpher.

The Neopilionidae are austral in distribution, with three genera from Australia (Ballarra, Arrallaba and Plesioballarra), two from southern Africa (Neopilio and Vibone) and one from southern Chile (Americovibone) (Hunt & Cokendolpher 1991).

Giribet et al. (2021) produced a phylogeny of the subfamily using 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA and cytochrome-c oxidase subunit I. They identified multiple lineages of Megalopsalis in Australia, however, they could not address the phylogenetic relationships of the Australian fauna in detail due to limited taxon sampling.

General References

Giribet, G., Sheridan, K., Baker, C., Painting, C., Holwell, G., Sirvid, P. & Hormiga, G. 2021. A molecular phylogeny of the circum-Antarctic Opiliones family Neopilionidae. Invertebrate Systematics 35: 827-849

Hunt, G.S. & Cokendolpher, J.C. 1991. Ballarrinae, a new subfamily of phalangioid harvestmen from the Southern Hemisphere (Arachnida, Opiliones, Neopilionidae). Records of the Australian Museum 43: 131-169

History of changes