Leiobunum

Leiobunum rotundum (females )

Leiobunum is a genus of the family of Sclerosomatidae in the order of the Opiliones.

Features

Like most harvestmen have the species of a compact physique. The color varies from species to species, the males are often significantly different colored than the females.

The body is entirely soft or only on the back almost leathery. The ocular tubercle is nearly as wide and long as high, often with small humps over each eye. The front edge of the carapace is centered free of bumps, the surface of the back is largely unarmed. The first five tergites are often grown in male rats at a fixed Dorsalschild.

On the Coxen teeth are often trained, but sometimes only to those of the first and last pair of legs. The first of the Chelicerenglieder is smooth on the back side. At the middle phalanx of the palp are towards the top and center no apophyses present, but occasionally there are slight swelling. The tarsi of male animals are occupied on the bottom center with a longitudinal row of small tubercles. Leiobunum has only one bezähnelte Tarsalklaue on each leg.

The legs of most species are remarkably long, with a span of about 15 cm. The femur of the first pair of legs is usually considerably longer than the body. The second pair of legs is always the longest and significantly longer than the fourth pair of legs.

Behavior

Some species of the genus Leiobunum aggregations of several hundred animals are known.

Occurrence

Previously described species from Asia, Europe, North Africa and North and Central America.

System

The genus was first described in 1839 by Carl Ludwig Koch in his review of the Arachnidensystems, the name ( λεῖος = smooth, βουνος = hill ) refers to the smooth seam on the ocular tubercle. Type species is rotundum Leiobunum, which had already been described in 1798 by Pierre André Latreille rotundum as Phalangium.

The exact scope of the genus is unclear, were described over 100, many synonymisierte species. Partial revisions exist for Europe, Japan and North America.

Synonyms

For the genus Leiobunum following synonyms are known from the literature:

• Forbesium Weed, 1890
• Leiobunus Meade, 1855
• Liobunum Agassiz, 1846
• Metaliobunum Suzuki, 1940
• Pseudoliobunum Müller, 1914

European Species

In Europe, the following species are represented:

• Leiobunum biseriatum ( Roewer, 1910)
• Leiobunum black walli ( Meade, 1861)
• Leiobunum ghigii ( Caporiacco, 1929)
• Leiobunum limbatum ( L.Koch, 1861)
• Leiobunum lusitanicum ( Roewer, 1923)
• Leiobunum nigripalpe (Simon, 1879)
• Leiobunum religiosum (Simon, 1879)
• Leiobunum roseum ( C.L.Koch, 1839)
• Leiobunum rotundum ( Latreille, 1798)
• Leiobunum rumelicum ( Shilhavý, 1965)
• Leiobunum rupestre (Fall, 1799)
• Leiobunum seriatum (Simon, 1878)
• Subalpine Schwarzrückenkanker Leiobunum subalpinum, ( Komposch, 1998) - ( eastern Alps )
• Leiobunum tisciae ( Avram, 1968)

Neozoon

A further, as yet undetermined, probably entrained Leiobunum - type of unknown origin has been in recent years in the Netherlands ( as probably the first European country in which they occurred ), Austria, Switzerland and Germany demonstrated. It occurs to buildings often in aggregations of sometimes several hundred individuals.