Iberosiro distylos, DE BIVORT & GIRIBET, 2004

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

IBEROSIRO DISTYLOS DE BIVORT & GIRIBET, 2004

A single male specimen from Algarve (cave) da Terra da Rolha , Rocha Forte, Serra de Montejunto (Estremadura, Portugal), collected by A. de Barros Machado in April 1941, and deposited at the MNHN (Paris), was described as yet another monotypic Iberian genus ( de Bivort & Giribet, 2004). This species constitutes the southernmost distribution of Iberian Cyphophthalmi .

With a length of c. 1.4 mm, similar to that of O. lusitanicus , it combines character states observed in Paramiopsalis and Odontosiro . As in Paramiopsalis , I. distylos has the coxa of the second pair of legs fused to the third coxa, a unique trait within the Sironidae . However, it shares with Odontosiro the ozophore position (which is also similar to that of Parasiro ), the type of leg ornamentation, and the anal plate that is devoid of modifications.

So far the holotype remains the only known specimens for this species, despite a recent visit (May 2008) to the alleged type locality by G. Giribet. However, a male and a female of a congener have

2 Juberthie only mentioned that the specimens were collected in Guimaraes by Coiffat in the North of Portugal. There are two localities in the North of Portugal named Guimarães, one in the Province of Braga, and another in the Province of Viseu.

been recently collected by pitfall trapping in Illano (Asturias), and the specimens were forwarded to the authors by C. Prieto after the first set of proofs of this article. These specimens will be described and discussed in a forthcoming paper .