Superfamily: Assamioidea
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A superfamily of 545 species distributed in tropical Africa, India, the Far East and the north and east coast of Australia. Despite a reasonably number of records, identification to species is not all that common. This superfamily contains four* families with a total of 290 genera meaning the average genus has less than two species in it and only four genera have a double digit number of species in them.
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Locally, only the Family: Assamiidae is of interest as none of the other other three families occur in Australia. Records of species in this family extend from Sydney around the east and north coast to Exmouth, W.A.
The Northern Rivers also has a small shares of these records but sofar only one species has been identified with certainty. Other records from our area have been identified to subfamily or family only. |
* = iNaturalist lists 3 families whereas the Catalogue of Life also list the mono-specific Family: Suthepiidae as well (See: Martens, J., 2006.)
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The Assamiidae are regarded as among the least studied of the Opilliones. The level of fragmentation within the family (and the Superfamily: Assamioidea as a whole) can be described as a result of their collective circumstances and habits. Opilliones, as a group, are ancient with their ancestry going back some 400 My and, in general, they do not disperse well. as they slowly expand their range over the eons, geographic isolation is likely to happen to small groups of individuals which may give rise to multiple new local species. This fragmentation and their often very localised distribution has discouraged phylogenetic research in the group and so boundaries between subfamilies and genera are not really well understood.
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Subfamily: Dampetrinae
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Dampetrus sp.
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Octobunus singularis
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Taxonomy:
Phylum: Arthropoda (Arthropods)
> Subphylum: Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
> Class: Arachnida (Arachnids)
> Order: Opiliones (Harvestmen)
> Suborder: Laniatores (Armoured Harvestmen)
> Infraorder: Grassatores
> Superfamily: Assamioidea
> Family: Assamiidae (Assamiid Harvestmen)
> Subfamily: Dampetrinae
> Genus: Dampetrus
> Species: ?
> Genus: Octobunus
> Species: O. singularis
References and links:
> Klementz, B. and Sharma, P., (2023). 'New species of Paktongius and convergent evolution of the gonyleptoid-like habitus in Southeast Asian Assamiidae (Opiliones: Laniatores).' Zootaxa. 5389. 34-54. DOI:10.11646/zootaxa.5389.1.2.
> Martens, J., (2020). 'A mysterious dwarf: Suthepiidae nov. fam., a new harvestman family from mountains of northern Thailand (Arachnida: Opiliones: Laniatores).' Revue suisse de Zoologie 127, 381–391.
> Palmieri, L., Giribet, G. and Sharma, P.P., (2023). 'Too early for the ferry: The biogeographic history of the Assamiidae of southeast Asia (Chelicerata: Opiliones, Laniatores).' Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 178, 2023, 107647. ISSN 1055-7903, DOI:10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107647.
https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/534319-Assamioidea
https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/4KZ
Photographic contributions: