CLOUSE, R. M.*; GIRIBET, G.; Harvard University; Harvard University: The Systematics and Biogeography of the Stylocellidae, a Southeast Asian Family of Cyphophthalmi (Opiliones)

Here we present our current understanding of the systematics of the Stylocellidae, a Southeast Asian family of the opilione suborder Cyphophthalmi. These animals are small (1-6 mm), cryptic, slow-moving arachnids that live in wet leaf litter around the world, and they are excellent subjects for biogeographic studies. The Sylocellidae live in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Palawan, and New Guinea, and they await an extensive, systematic, collecting effort. We have done a preliminary study of specimens borrowed from museums worldwide, and we have found that this family contains a large number of novel species, especially on Sumatra. From the more recent collections, we have generated sequence data and have thus been able to include stylocellidae species in a comprehensive cyphophthalmid phylogeny and begin to understand relationships within the family. Relationships within the Stylocellidae are especially interesting in such a geologically complex region.