Poecilaemula Explained

Poecilaemula is a genus of harvestmen in the family Cosmetidae with eight described species (as of early 2024). All species are from Central America or South America.An overview of the taxonomy was provided by Medrano et al. (2024)

Description

The genus Poecilaemula was described by Roewer, 1912 with the type species Poecilaemula signata (Banks, 1909). The South American species require further revision to re-assess their taxonomic placement.

Species

These species belong to the genus Poecilaemula:

• Poecilaemula eutypa (Chamberlin, 1925)Panama
• Poecilaemula iching Medrano, Kury, Martins & Proud, 2024Panama
• Poecilaemula lavarrei Goodnight & Goodnight, 1942Guyana
• Poecilaemula metatarsalis Roewer, 1915Venezuela
• Poecilaemula moniliata Roewer, 1928Ecuador
• Poecilaemula peruviana Roewer, 1947Peru
• Poecilaemula signata (Banks, 1909)Costa Rica
• Poecilaemula smaragdula Mello-Leitão, 1941Brazil (Espírito Santo)

Etymology

The genus is feminine. Genus name derives from a misspelling of pre-existing genus Paecilaema + feminine form of Latin suffix -ulus.

Further reading

• (eds.) (2007). Harvestmen – The Biology of Opiliones. Harvard University Press, USA.
• Medrano. M.. Kury. A.B.. Martins. P.H.. Proud. D.N.. 2024. The first harvestman described from Bocas del Toro Archipelago: a new Poecilaemula (Opiliones: Cosmetidae) and notes about the genus. Journal of Natural History. 58. 9-12. 311–329. 10.1080/00222933.2024.2314966. en.