Zalmoxis Sørensen, 1886

Pérez-González, Abel, Sharma, Prashant P. & Proud, Daniel N., 2016, Morphological tricks and blessed genitalia: rectifying the family placement of Fijicolana tuberculata (Opiliones: Laniatores: Zalmoxidae), Zootaxa 4061 (3), pp. 253-260 : 254

Zalmoxis Sørensen, 1886

Zalmoxis Sørensen, 1886: 64 [type species: Zalmoxis robusta Sørensen, 1886 , by subsequent designation in Roewer 1949]. Fijicolana Roewer, 1963: 223 [type species: Fijicolana tuberculata Roewer, 1963 , by original designation] syn. nov. See the remainder of the extensive synonymy in Sharma et al. (2011: 42–43).

Justification of synonymy. Our decision follows the same rationale proposed by Sharma et al. (2011), based on evidence from a molecular phylogeny which indicates that the Indo-Pacific Zalmoxidae constitute a monophyletic group (Sharma & Giribet 2012), thus disfavoring monotypic genera that would render Zalmoxis para- or polyphyletic. The habitus of F. tuberculata is zalmoxid-like, with a pyriform dorsal scutum, and remarkably similar to that of the New Caledonian species Zalmoxis neocaledonicus Roewer, 1912 and Zalmoxis mendax Sharma, 2012 . Additionally, the well-marked bulla, male genital morphology, and enlarged metatarsus III are very similar to other Zalmoxis species (see below). The only two morphological features discordant with the most recent diagnosis of Zalmoxis (see Sharma et al. 2011) are the presence of five tarsomeres on leg IV (rather than six in typical Zalmoxis species) and the presence of tarsal scopulae on legs III and IV. Sharma et al. (2011) stated that the tarsal formula for Zalmoxis is 3: 5–9: 5: 6, however a re-examination of all tarsal formulae described for the species currently placed in Zalmoxis shows greater variation in all legs: 3–4: 4–9: 4–5: 5–6 ( Table 1 ). The presence of five tarsomeres on leg IV, supposedly diagnostic for Fijicolana , is currently shared by 11 other Zalmoxis species ( Table 1 ). Therefore the presence of a scopula remains as the only diagnostic feature of Fijicolana that would separate it from other species of Zalmoxis . Given that molecular evidence supports the monophyly of Zalmoxis in the Pacific Islands, and that scopulae on tarsi III and IV are recurrently observed in unrelated lineages (e.g. Ibaloniinae; Kury 2007, Sharma & Giribet 2011), the scopula alone is insufficient to support F. tuberculata as belonging to a genus of its own and instead is regarded as a putative autapomorphy of this species.