Titanoleptes, Kury & Bernabé, 2023

Kury, Adriano B. & Bernabé, Tiago, 2023, Description of two new genera and five new species of clade K 92 from Bahia and Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil (Arachnida, Opiliones, Gonyleptidae), Zootaxa 5351 (4), pp. 401-434 : 415-418

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5351.4.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:01FF28C0-58F7-47FC-B2A5-03BA8DAF2662
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8400097
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/C662C684-A0C1-459C-A8B9-905D9E91CA23
taxon LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:act:C662C684-A0C1-459C-A8B9-905D9E91CA23
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Titanoleptes
status	gen. nov.

Treatment

Titanoleptes View in CoL gen. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C662C684-A0C1-459C-A8B9-905D9E91CA23

“Undescribed genera SOD-01, SOD-02”— Kury et al. 2022: 79.

Etymology. From the Greek Τῑτάν (one of the titans, divine beings descending from the primordial deities) + leptes (truncation of generic name Gonyleptes ), referring to the very large size of its species. Gender masculine.

Type species. Titanoleptes hyperion View in CoL sp. nov.

Included species. Titanoleptes calcar ( Roewer, 1913) , Titanoleptes cupidensis ( Soares & Soares, 1946) , Titanoleptes eros sp. nov. and Titanoleptes hyperion sp. nov.

Diagnosis. Coxa IV of male without retrolateral apical apophysis ( Fig. 16c View FIGURE 16 ), except in T. cupidensis ( Fig. 20a View FIGURE 20 ). Trochanter IV of male armed with a strong, retrolateral, apical apophysis ( Figs. 21a, c View FIGURE 21 ). Patella and tibia IV covered with yellow acuminate tubercles ( Figs. 20d View FIGURE 20 , 24b View FIGURE 24 ). Femur IV of male either substraight ( Fig. 19a View FIGURE 19 ) or strongly curved to the midline on basal 1/ 4 in dorsal view ( Figs. 17a, c View FIGURE 17 ). Tibia IV armed with rows of acuminate tubercles ( Figs. 20d View FIGURE 20 , 24b View FIGURE 24 ). VP of penis with ear-flaps small, triangular, ectal vertex connected but not fused with flange. Flabellum quadrangular, as a stylized shell, proximal sides gently arched, non-serrate, distal half extremely reduced, with distal sides coalesced into one, arched and deeply serrate ( Fig. 22e View FIGURE 22 ).

Distribution ( Figs 14–15 View FIGURE 14 View FIGURE 15 ). Southern Bahia State and Espírito Santo State. All four species of Titanoleptes occur in the WWF ecoregion NT0103 (Bahia coastal forests) and two subsets of two species each are distributed on opposite margins of the Doce River.

Internal and external relationships of the four species of Titanoleptes . At a first glance, one could easily identify two forms in Titanoleptes gen. nov.: (1) T. eros sp. nov. and T. cupidensis are gracile and have a median apophysis on free tergite III in both sexes, substraight femur IV, and naked glans; (2) T. hyperion sp. nov. and T. calcar are robust and lack an apophysis on free tergite III of males, have a heavily curved femur IV, and have a unique scutum covering the glans. The parapatrid pattern of these two pairs— T. eros + T. cupidensis and T. hyperion + T. calcar are found on opposite margins of the Doce River ( Figs. 13–14 View FIGURE 13 View FIGURE 14 )—is highly suggestive of a sister relationship between each of the members of these pairs, regardless of whether the pairs themselves form a more inclusive clade or not. This hypothesis, though, is not corroborated by any of the analyses. The cladistic analysis of Kury et al. (2022) explored different parameters to assess the arrangement of the four Titanoleptes in the phylogeny of Sodreaninae. The favored analysis using the setk script (with implied weights and K value ca. 12) resolved Titanoleptes as a sister clade of Friburgoia / Urodiabunus , with an internal branching sequence of T. eros , T. cupidensis , and then T. hyperion + T. calcar . IE settings of K = 1 and 5, plus equal weights, yielded the same result. However, Bayesian inference did not recover Titanoleptes at all, finding only the clade T. hyperion + T. calcar and then recovering T. eros and T. cupidensis in a trichotomy with the rest of the Sodreaninae. We have decided not to arrange the four species of Titanoleptes into two genera, despite the weak support for their monophyly.

Key to the species of Titanoleptes View in CoL

1. Ocularium armed with two small spherical tubercles of lighter color contrasting with background ( Figs. 16g View FIGURE 16 , 27b View FIGURE 27 ); femur IV of male strongly curved to the median line at proximal one quarter, armed at least with two strong retrolateral spines ( Figs. 17 View FIGURE 17 , 28 View FIGURE 28 ); free tergite III unarmed in males, either unarmed ( T. hyperion View in CoL ) or with median apophysis ( T. calcar View in CoL ) in females ( Figs. 16b, g View FIGURE 16 , 27b View FIGURE 27 ).............................................................................................. 2

1’. Ocularium with two high erect spines concolor with background ( Figs. 19f View FIGURE 19 , 23c View FIGURE 23 ); femur IV of male substraight, without prominent retrolateral spines ( Figs. 21a–d View FIGURE 21 , 24a–d View FIGURE 24 ); free tergite III armed with a median apophysis in both sexes ( Figs. 19b, h View FIGURE 19 , 23 a, f View FIGURE 23 ).............................................................................................. 3

2. Body color mahogany with black reticle ( Figs. 16b, g View FIGURE 16 ); tubercles of scutal area III strong, acuminate and contrasting dark brown ( Figs. 16b, g View FIGURE 16 ); RD6 of male Fe IV straight ( Fig. 16a View FIGURE 16 ); FT II-III of female with yellow cones ( Figs 16g, h View FIGURE 16 )................................................................................................ T. calcar ( Roewer, 1913) View in CoL

2’. Body color dark brown, almost black; tubercles of scutal area III small, rounded and contrasting pale yellow ( Fig. 27b View FIGURE 27 ); RD6 of male Fe IV strongly curved ( Fig. 27a View FIGURE 27 ); FT II-III of female entirely unarmed ( Fig. 1f View FIGURE 1 )............... T. hyperion View in CoL sp. nov.

3. Cx IV of male with strong inner apical apophysis ( Figs. 19b, c View FIGURE 19 , 20a View FIGURE 20 ); Tr IV with strong apical inner apophysis ( Fig. 20a View FIGURE 20 ).......................................................................... T. cupidensis ( Soares & Soares, 1946) View in CoL

3’. Cx IV of male unarmed internally ( Figs. 23a, b View FIGURE 23 ); Tr IV with small apical inner apophysis................. T. eros View in CoL sp. nov.