Rhaucus is a genus of harvestmen in the family Cosmetidae. The genus is endemic to the northern Andes in Colombia. There are currently seven described species in the genus.[1][2]
Many other species were included in the genus Rhaucus, until a taxonomic revision (in 2017) reduced the genus to a more clearly defined grouping and synonymized or transferred multiple previously described species to leave five remaining species.[1] A previously synonymized species, R. papilionaceus, was revalidated in 2018.[2]Two other species were later transferred into the genus and two new species described.[3]
Rhaucus contains the following species:[4] (after García & Kury, 2017; García & Daniela Ahumada-C., 2018; Pinzón-Morales & Pinto-da-Rocha, 2024).[1][2][3]
(Note: Rhaucus trilineatus is interpreted[4] as having been indirectly transferred to Rhaucus due to the synonymy of MetarhaucusF.O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1905 under Rhaucus in García & Kury (2017: 417).[1] There, the type species Metarhaucus fuscus Pickard-Cambridge 1905 became a junior synonym of Rhaucus serripes (Simon, 1879)), consequently leading to Metarhaucus = Rhaucus. Other species then placed in Metarhaucus at that time and similarly affected by the same synonymy have since been re-formalised into other genera).
1 2 Pinzón-Morales, C.A.; Pinto-da-Rocha, R. (2024). "Two new species of Rhaucus Simon, 1879 reveal putative synapomorphies related to the microstructural morphology of male genitalia (Opiliones: Cosmetidae)". Zootaxa. 5555 (1): 35–56. doi:10.11646/ZOOTAXA.5555.1.3.
1 2 "Rhaucus". Kury, A. et al. (2023). WCO-Lite: World Catalogue of Opiliones. Retrieved 20 Jul 2023.
Further reading
Pinto-da-Rocha, R., Machado, G. & Giribet, G. (eds.) (2007). Harvestmen – The Biology of Opiliones. Harvard University Press, USA. ISBN0-674-02343-9
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