Tercentenarium, Taylor, 2011

Taylor, Christopher K., 2011, Revision of the genus Megalopsalis (Arachnida: Opiliones: Phalangioidea) in Australia and New Zealand and implications for phalangioid classification 2773, Zootaxa 2773 (1), pp. 1-65 : 47

Tercentenarium new genus

Type species: Megalopsalis linnaei Taylor 2008b .

Description. As for type and only known species (see Taylor 2008b).

Etymology. From the Latin tercentenarium, three-hundredth anniversary, as the type species was given the species name ‘ linnaei ’ to mark the three-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Carl Linnaeus. Gender neuter.

Comments. The distinctiveness of this species from other species included in Megalopsalis was previously discussed when it was first described by Taylor (2008b), though at that time it was not placed in a distinct genus as the type species of Megalopsalis had not yet been examined. Megalopsalis linnaei differs significantly from other species of Megalopsalis in numerous features, most notably the distinctive male genital morphology with a heavily sclerotised penis possessing a left lateral accessory plate at the junction between shaft and glans ( Taylor 2008b, fig. 13). Males also lack the enlarged chelicerae of other Megalopsalis species , instead possessing small chelicerae with a unique dorsodistal apophysis ( Taylor 2008b, fig. 3), and females have an unusual ‘keyhole’ opening in the genital operculum ( Taylor 2008b, fig. 10). In the phylogenetic analysis conducted herein, it did not form a clade with other Megalopsalis (see above), but instead lay in a trichotomy with ‘Monoscutinae’ and a clade containing all other Enantiobuninae or show up as sister to ‘Monoscutinae’ alone. In view of its phylogenetic and morphological distinction, it is here placed in a new separate genus.