Leptopsalis laevichelis ( Roewer, 1942 ) Roewer, 1942

Clouse, Ronald M., 2012, The lineages of Stylocellidae (Arachnida: Opiliones: Cyphophthalmi), Zootaxa 3595 (1), pp. 1-34 : 28

Leptopsalis laevichelis ( Roewer, 1942) new comb.

Stylocellus laevichelis Roewer, 1942: 278 . See complete synonymy in Giribet 2000: 68.

Comments: Roewer’s description of this species from southwestern Peninsular Malaysia did not allow us to place it in a genus, since it contained little information on the important characters and lacked illustrations. In fact, the description contradicts an important synapomorphy of the family ( Giribet 2002), granulation on the second cheliceral segment (“Glied frontal ebenfalls glänzend glatt, nirgends bekörnelt” = “Second limb, from the front, likewise glossy, with no granulations”). Roewer’s description of laevichelis is mostly concerned with granulations, so we can assume Roewer examined this closely, but many species in Leptopsalis have secondarticle granulations of the chelicerae reduced to only a few proximal bumps that are difficult to see under a normal light microscope. The adenostyle is described as having a little bristle on top (“einem Spitzenbörstchen”), which would make more sense as a stylocellid feature if described in the plural (e.g., “tuft of bristles”), although we might again attribute this to low magnification during Roewer’s examination. I have thus obtained the type specimen and can see that it is a large member of Leptopsalis and has smooth, extremely attenuate second cheliceral articles, with only one or two granules on the proximal end. The adenostyle is small but tufted, the specimen has small eyes, and the posterior gonostome is deeply concave and thus heart-shaped. Some measurements of the type, in mm, are as follows: body length 5.33, width across the ozophores 2.73, width across the widest part of the opisthosoma 2.87, second cheliceral article length 1.9, and third cheliceral article length 0.35.

Material examined: Holotype, Male (Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt ( SGN), Roewer collection no. 7221/ 22), Malaysia, no collection date given, determined by Roewer 1942 .