Family PETTALIDAE Shear, 1980

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Introduction

Pettalids are an austral group of cyphophthalmids, with a disjunct distribution in South Africa, Sri Lanka, southern Australia, New Zealand and South America (Shear 1980). The Australian fauna currently consists of six species in two genera, of which only Austropurcellia Juberthie is endemic to Australia.

Pettalids, like other cyphophthalmids, are small heavily sclerotised opilionids with elevated ozopores on the sides of the cephalothorax. They occur in leaf litter and moss, and in Australia are found in eastern and south-western Australia.

Boyer & Giribet revised the family and excluded the genera Neopurcellia Forster, 1948 and Rakaia Hirst, 1925 from the Australian fauna, reassigning N. capricornia Davies, 1977 to Austropurcellia. These are the only two genera found in New Zealand.

General References

Boyer, S.L. & Giribet, G. 2007. A new model Gondwanan taxon: systematics and biogeography of the harvestman family Pettalidae (Arachnida, Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi), with a taxonomic revision of genera from Australia and New Zealand. Cladistics 23: 337–361

Shear, W.A. 1980. A review of the Cyphophthalmi of the United States and Mexico, with a proposed reclassification of the suborder (Arachnida, Opiliones). American Museum Novitates 2705: 1-34

Šťáhlavský, F., Boyer, S.L., Harvey, M.S. & Giribet, G. 2012. First cytogenetic study of a member of the harvestman family Pettalidae (Opiliones: Cyphophthalmi). Australian Journal of Entomology 51: 299–302

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