The first survey on harvestmen in Brazilian artificial cavities, with notes on distribution and natural history

Abstract

Several species of harvestmen occur in natural subterranean cavities using these habitats as shelters and sites of oviposition. Many species have evolved in these environments, thus becoming cave-dwellers. In a few cases harvestmen have been reported in artificial cavities (mines), but without details about their distribution or natural history. Based on faunal inventories carried out in 111 artificial cavities in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, this work aimed to register species of harvestmen that are associated with these artificial cavities. Seventeen species were found in 12 municipalities, in addition to new occurrences for 14 of these species and some new behavioral notes. Two undescribed species were also recorded. This study highlights that artificial cavities may be used as shelters by harvestmen, mainly in human-modified landscapes.

Semideciduous seasonal forest opiliofauna (Arachnida, Opiliones), State of Paraná, Brazil

“…The most abundant species in this study were Parapachyloides uncinatus (Sørensen, 1879; Figure 4A and B) and Discocyrtus invalidus (Piza, 1938), which together accounted for about 82% of the collected material. Parapachyloides uncinatus already had occurrence records for the states of Goiás, São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul (Kury, 2003), Ceará (Azevedo et al, 2016), Tocantins (Kury, Chagas-Jr, Giuponni, & González, 2010), cave areas in the Minas Gerais State (Ázara, Bernardi, & Ferreira, 2016), and occupying different biomes, such as Atlantic Forest and Caatinga (DeSouza, DaSilva, Carvalho, & Oliveira, 2014). With the sampling carried out in this study, the distribution of this species expanded, since there was no record for the state of Paraná.…”

Opiliofauna (Arachnida, Opiliones) of the seasonal semidecidual forest of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…In order to evaluate the similarity of the Opiliones fauna sampled in this study, works carried out in the states of São Paulo (RESENDE et al, 2012) and of Rio de Janeiro (BRAGAGNOLO; PINTO-DA- ROCHA, 2003), with a phytophysiognomy of Atlantic Rainforest dominance biome, and of the state of Minas Gerais (SOARES, 1970;ÁZARA et al, 2016;FERREIRA et al, 2019) were used. Only the material identified up to species were used in the analyses, for all the comparative studies and this one.…”

“…There are few cataloging and distribution works on opiliofauna in the state of Minas Gerais (SOARES, 1970;SOARES;SOARES, 1970;ÁZARA et al, 2016;FERREIRA et al, 2019). The first work was carried out at the Parque Nacional do Itatiaia (Itatiaia National Park), which holds rupestrian and altitude field formations, as well as Ombrophilous forests, spanning both the states of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro.…”