The internal phylogeny of the arachnid order Opiliones is investigated by including molecular data from five molecular markers for ca. 140 species totalling 43 families of Opiliones. The phylogenetic analyses consisted of a direct optimization (DO) approach using POY v. 4 and sophisticated tree search algorithms as well as a static alignment analysed under maximum likelihood. The four Opiliones suborders were well-supported clades, but subordinal relationships did not receive support in the DO analysis, with the exception of the monophyly of Palpatores (=Eupnoi + Dyspnoi). Maximum-likelihood analysis strongly supported the traditional relationship of Phalangida and Palpatores: (Cyphophthalmi ((Eupnoi + Dyspnoi) Laniatores)). Relationships within each suborder are well resolved and largely congruent between direct optimization and maximum-likelihood approaches. Age estimates for the main Opiliones lineages suggest a Carboniferous diversification of Cyphophthalmi, while its sister group, Phalangida, diversified in the Early Devonian. Diversification of all suborders predates the Triassic, and most major lineages predate the Cretaceous. The following taxonomic changes are proposed.

For the first time a hypothesis of homology is proposed for the macrosetae which compose the armature of the distal truncus penis of the Gonyleptoidea. Previous attempts to name them in the literature have not been continued because they started by referring to macrosetae based on their position, which may change widely, and all of them were very narrow in scope. The present project instead names groups of macrosetae that do not mandatorily refer to their position, thus compensating for their hypothesized secondary position shifts. Using criteria of topology, shape and exclusion, six groups of setae are recognized, A–E, and their topological and phylogenetic distribution is studied and described in all families of Gonyleptoidea and two other related families of Grassatores. A cladistic analysis is performed, providing the following results: (1) the Microsetata are recovered including Metasarcidae/Cosmetidae sister to an expanded Gonyleptidae; (2) the genera Quindina (Cranaidae) and Zygopachylus (Manaosbiidae) are transferred to Nomoclastidae rank nov., hitherto regarded as a subfamily of Stygnidae, now a sister group of the Microsetata; (3) Zamorinae, currently placed in Cranaidae, is the sister group to Nomoclastidae, and it is therefore transferred to this family; (4) an expanded Gonyleptidae is recovered, including Manaosbiidae and Cranaidae, but the independence of these families is also recovered because the Gonyleptidae stricto sensu form a clade; (5) the Ampycinae, in spite of many particularities, are recovered inside Gonyleptidae; (6) the zamorine‐less Cranaidae are recovered as a monophyletic sister group to Gonyleptidae, but not nested inside it. Jabbastygnus gen. nov. is described in Stygnidae along with its type species J. huttorum, from Colombia. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London

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The first cladistic analysis of the Tricommatinae is presented here based on a matrix with 88 terminals and 117 characters. The subfamily, hitherto with 28 genera and 53 species, is not recovered as a clade, instead it is composed of two nonsister clades, corresponding to the two main physiognomies of Tricommatinae sensu lato: (1) most of the diversity of the Tricommatinae, including the emblematic genera Cryptogeobius Mello‐Leitão, 1935, and Pseudopachylus Roewer, 1912, and (2) the less familiar species, including the type genus Tricommatus Roewer, 1912, plus a few relatives, totalling three genera with five species. The Tricommatinae sensu stricto are here reduced to their bare core, nested within Gonyleptidae, whereas Cryptogeobiidae fam. nov. is more basally placed within the Gonyleptoidea. The holotype and sole available material of Tricommatus brasiliensis Roewer, 1912, type species of Tricommatus, is restudied and is here redescribed and illustrated. Pherania Strand, 1942, is herein considered a junior subjective synonym of Tricommatus and a key is given to the species of Tricommatus. Voriax gen. nov. of Tricommatinae is described along with the type species Voriax popeye sp. nov., an unusual species from Bahia, showing strange sexual dimorphism. Some changes have been introduced in the taxonomy of Cryptogeobiidae: (1) 13 genera are synonymized (two of them, Berlesecaptus Mello‐Leitão, 1940, and Simonoleptes, originally in Phalangodidae); (2) 18 new combinations are made; (3) a neotype is designated for the type species Berlesecaptus convexus Mello‐Leitão, 1940; (4) a new miniature species, Paratricommatus lockei sp. nov., is described from an area of conservation, Reserva Ecológica de Guapi‐Açu, in Rio de Janeiro state, south‐eastern Brazil. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London

In many Opiliones (notably the Laniatores) the five most anterior opisthosomal tergites are fused with the carapace forming the so called dorsal scutum (DS) (Latreille 1804; Simon 1879; Hadži 1942) with a highly variable shape arising from multiple factors, such as differential development of musculature (especially of coxa IV), internal organs and influence of appendages (Loman 1903; Winkler 1957). The different degrees of fusion of the tergites were first studied by Hadži (1942), who proposed a terminology for them. This terminology was adopted and enhanced by Kratochvíl (1958) and Martens (1978). A shield formed by the fusion of the carapace with abdominal tergites I to V is called scutum magnum (Hadži 1942). The shield formed by the fusion of carapace with abdominal tergites I to VII is called scutum complexum (Kratochvíl 1958) and occurs in the males of Heteropachylinae Kury, 1994 (Kury 1994) and Paralolidae Kratochvíl, 1958 (Kratochvíl 1958). Finally, the scutum completum (Hadži 1942) is formed by the complete fusion of the carapace and abdominal scutum, formed by tergites I to VIII, and occurs in the Sandokanidae (Martens 1978). In this paper we focus on the different forms of the scutum magnum.

The genua Roquettea Mello-Leitão, hitherto monotypic and known from Brazilian state of Pará, is rediagnosed, the type species, Roquettea singularis is redescribed, including a report on two male morphs, being the second record of male polymorphism in Cosmetidae, the first in South America. Three new species are described from northern Brazil - Roquettea taurine n. sp. (which possesses a unique horned ocularium) and Roquettea jalapensis n. sp. (without notable scutal structures), both from the state of Tocantins, being the first record of the family Cosmetidae from Tocantins; and Roquettea scrotalis n. sp. (with a unique 2-balled dorsal tuberous complex) from Amapá state, being the first record of the subfamily Discosomaticinae from Amapá. Roquettea is compared to the closely related genus Gryne, both currently placed in Discosomaticinae, and also to Profus, the type genus of the subfamily. The unity of Discosomaticinae is discussed, and evidence for the monophyly of this subfamily is weak at best. Male genitalia are for the first time illustrated and described for genera Protus, Roquettea and Gryne, and SEM micrographs are used for the first time in descriptions of Cosmetidae.

The Chilean genus Nanophareus Roewer, 1929 is revised and three new species are described: N. araucanus sp. nov. (typelocality: Parque Nacional La Campana, Valparaíso, Chile); N. bipartitus sp. nov. (type locality: Parque Nacional La Cam-pana, Valparaíso, Chile); N. bosqenublado sp. nov. (type locality: Parque Nacional Fray Jorge, Coquimbo, Chile). Thetype species, N. palpalis Roewer, 1929, is redescribed and a lectotype is designated. A cladistic analysis was performedusing these three new species plus N. palpalis and 14 more laniatorid species, and a data matrix of 72 characters: Sevenfrom the ocularium, 22 from the dorsal scutum, one from the venter, one from the chelicera, eight from the pedipalp, 24from male legs, and nine from male genitalia. Two equally most parsimonious trees were found (L = 210; C.I. = 0.41; R.I.= 0.51). Nanophareus was recovered as nested within a paraphyletic subfamily Pachylinae. The genus Nanophareus wasfound to be monophyletic based on the following exclusive synapomorphies: An external row of enlarged tubercles in-serted among small ones on lateral margin of the dorsal scutum (innapplicable in N. bosqenublado); the ventro-basal mar-gin of pedipalpal tibia curved 90 degrees in lateral view; and retrolateral seta of the pedipalpal tibia with a socket apically bifid (socket and seta longer than pedipalpal tibia length).

A character survey compiling the morphological information of the subfamily Stygnicranainae was carried out. Two new species of Stygnicranaus Roewer, 1913 are described from Colombia and the new genus Agathocranaus is described from Ecuador. All known species of the subfamily are included in a matrix of 46 morphological characters. Parsimony analysis under implied weights recovered a monophyletic Stygnicranainae including Tryferos Roewer, 1931 plus Stygnicranaus and Agathocranaus. However, the usage of the four subfamilies of Cranaidae as currently defined is abandoned because the two largest subfamilies of Cranaidae -Cranainae and Prostygninae -represent paraphyletic groups (grades), whereas Heterocranainae is a superfluous subfamily, including only the genus Heterocranaus Roewer, 1913.