Tricommatus, ROEWER, 1912

Kury, Adriano B., 2014, Why does the Tricommatinae position bounce so much within Laniatores? A cladistic analysis, with description of a new family of Gonyleptoidea (Opiliones, Laniatores), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 172 (1), pp. 1-48 : 17

TRICOMMATUS ROEWER, 1912

Tricommatus Roewer 1912: 158 ; Kury 2003a: 205 [type species: Tricommatus brasiliensis Roewer, 1912 , by monotypy].

Phera Sørensen in Henriksen 1932: 228 [junior homonym of Phera Stål, 1864 (Hemiptera) ; type species: Phera pygmaea Sørensen, 1932 , by monotypy].

Pherania Strand 1942: 399 [valid replacement name for Phera ]; Kury 1995a: 75; Kury 2003b: 2. syn. nov.

Etymology: Tricommatus , probably from Greek tri (‘three times’) + kommatos (‘that which is cut off, piece’); thus ‘divided into three pieces’. Surely referring to the tripartite distitarsus I of which Tricommatus was the paradigm contrasting with the bipartite Phalangodes . Gender masculine. Phera from Latin fera (wild beast), the initial ph- seems to be an archaism/classicism. Gender feminine.

Placement: Tricommatus originally the type genus of Tricommatinae. Phera originally in Minuidae . Removed to Gonyleptidae Pachylinae by Kury (1995a).

Diagnosis: Dorsal scutum outline alpha, with wellmarked posterior constriction. Pedipalpal femur unarmed dorsally and ventrally and not especially flattened. Femora/tibiae III and IV of male not incrassate. Distal margin of penis ventral plate with shallow (about 1/4 of its length) V-shaped cleft.