A review of the pseudoscorpion genus Metawithius (Pseudoscorpiones: Withiidae) from the Indian subcontinent

A comparative study of the male genitalia of the Cacodemoniini (Pseudoscorpiones: Withiidae)

“…Since the chitinized arch corresponds to the lateral apodemes of Legg (1974c), we follow this original nomenclature. The la are wide in Microwithius, Pycnowithius and Rugowithius (Harvey 1988(Harvey , 2015Mahnert 1988), while they are thin in Metawithius and Trichotowithius (Dashdamirov 1992;Harvey 2015;Johnson et al 2019). The only figure available for Rexwithius (Heurtault 1994) does not allow us to locate the la.…”

“…The dorsal apodemes in Metawithius and Rugowithius were labeled by Harvey (2015) and Johnson et al (2019) as median diverticula; however, these structures appear in the corresponding position of the dorsal apodemes of the Neotropical Cacodemoniini. In addition, their illustrations suggest that these are sclerotized structures, whereas the diverticula are not sclerotized.…”

“…Heurtault (1971) named the lateral apodemes ''arc chitinisé'' for Withius hispanus (L. Koch, 1873), W. faunus (Simon, 1879) and W. neglectus (Simon, 1878). Using the English version, ''chitinized arch'', Harvey (2015) and Johnson et al (2019) follow this nomenclature for Metawithius. Since the chitinized arch corresponds to the lateral apodemes of Legg (1974c), we follow this original nomenclature.…”

“…Concerning the non-Neotropical genera, the lateral rods are only visible in the illustrations of Metawithius and Microwithius provided by Johnson et al (2019) and Harvey (1988), respectively. In Metawithius, they are sinuous and parallel, while in Microwithius they are divergent dorsally.…”

“…The specimens were identified based on published descriptions (e.g., Chamberlin 1931a;Feio 1944;Beier 1959;Harvey 2004), comparison with specimens lodged in the Western Australian Museum, and the advice of Dr. Mark Harvey (Western Australian Museum). We also reviewed the available descriptions and illustrations of six of the seven genera of non-Neotropical Cacodemoniini (e.g., Harvey 1988Harvey , 2015Mahnert 1988;Dashdamirov 1992;Heurtault 1994;Johnson et al 2019). We had no access to specimens of Thaumatowithius Beier, 1940 and no descriptions are available for the male genitalia for either of the two described species.…”