Paramiopsalis, JUBERTHIE, 1962

Murienne, Jérôme & Giribet, Gonzalo, 2009, The Iberian Peninsula: ancient history of a hot spot of mite harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones: Cyphophthalmi: Sironidae) diversity, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 156 (4), pp. 785-800 : 790

PARAMIOPSALIS JUBERTHIE, 1962

Emended diagnosis: Small sironids with free coxae I; coxae II fused to coxae III and IV. Eyes absent. Ozophores of type II. Sternum absent. Opisthosomal dorsal longitudinal sulcus absent. Posterior border of opisthosoma truncated in males and rounded in females. Opisthosomal tergite IX free, and sternites 8 and 9 medially fused, for most of their length, not forming a corona analis. A single anal gland pore opening on tergite VIII. Basal cheliceral article without dorsal crest. Tarsus and metatarsus of legs I and II smooth; metatarsus of legs III and IV ornamented, but tarsus smooth. Claws of walking legs smooth, without any sort of ornamentation. Tarsus IV of males entire. Adenostyle large, lamelliform, or plumose. Spermatopositor short, with bifurcating dorsal microtrichia with thick bases, and shorter ventral microtrichia with thinner bases. Pars apicalis with hooked mobile digits. Ovipositor long, with a multibranched, sensitive process on each lobe .

This diagnosis corresponds to the one provided for the genus by Juberthie (1962: 267), with the exception of the adenostyle type, which is plumose only in the type species of the genus.

Included species: Paramiopsalis ramulosus and Paramiopsalis eduardoi sp. nov.

Phylogenetic position: In recent molecular analyses ( Boyer et al., 2007b; this analysis) the genus Paramiopsalis is currently seen as sister to the genus Cyphophthalmus , but its position has fluctuated within Sironidae in other molecular analyses ( Boyer et al., 2005). These analyses did not include the genera Iberosiro or Odontosiro . Morphologically, Paramiopsalis is the closest relative of Iberosiro ( de Bivort & Giribet, 2004) , although with low support. Unfortunately, Iberosiro specimens are not available for molecular study.