20th International Congress of Arachnology

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Diversidad Animal I, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas,
Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de
Córdoba, Argentina. IDEA-CONICET; 2Instituto de
Diversidad y Ecología Animal (IDEA), CONICET-UNC,
Córdoba, Argentina; 3Laboratorio de Etología,
Ecología y Evolución, Instituto de Investigaciones
Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo, Uruguay.
A mating system that includes polygyny can involve
benefits for males but also costs in mate searching and
sexual performance during courtship and copulation.
These costs could limit the number of copulations a male
achieves and also generate changes in body conditions and
physiological characteristics. In this study we focused on
the atypical Aglaoctenus lagotis, a South American wolf
spider who lives in funnel-webs. Polyandrous females has
been reported for the species but nothing is known about
reproductive dynamics of males. Here we evaluate, under
laboratory conditions, the level of polygyny that males
from A. lagotis are able to achieve and the behavioral and
physiological changes involved. Nine males were sequen-
tially exposed to virgin females, in their webs, every three
days, until the male stopped copulating and courting,
were cannibalized or dead naturally. Number of matings
achieved by males were counted, and the characteristics of
each sexual exposition, as well as body measurements of
the individuals, were registered. We also counted the sperm
in the spermathecae of the females the males copulated
with, and the remaining sperm in male’s pedipalps after all
their copulations. Males performed an average of 6 copula-
tions (range 11–3). The number of sperm transferred to
the females decreases with successive copulations, as well
as males weight. Courtships and copulations durations
showed no relation with males’ body conditions (size and
weight). Four males were cannibalized by their mates
during and after copulations, but were not those that
had performed more copulations. Results suggest that A.
lagotis presents a polyandrous-polygynous system. Details
about other factors influencing these results, as males and
female’s sexual behavior and body characteristics, will be
discussed by the light of the reproductive dynamics of the
species.
Keywords: Aglaoctenus lagotis, sexual behavior, sperm
transfer, copulation, polygyny
Oral presentation
Ransacking the incertae sedis opilionids: a
new Indo-Malayan family of Grassatores
Abel Pérez-González 1, Adriano B. Kury2, Daniel N. Proud 1,3
1División Aracnología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias
Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Av. Angel Gal-
lardo 470, C1405DJR Buenos Aires, Argentina; 2Dept.
Invertebrados - Lab. Aracnologia, Museu Nacional,
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta
da Boa Vista s/n, São Cristóvão 20.940-040 Rio de
Janeiro - RJ - Brazil; 3Current address: Institute for
Health and Human Services, BCHS, Appalachian State
University, ASU Box 32102 - Boone, NC 28608, USA
Roewer established an artificial concept of Phalangodidae
by lumping together members from several harvestmen
families. However, over the years, many authors took the
opposite approach and instead split Roewer’s Phalan-
godidae to create, or revalidate, family groups. In this
work, we continue to purge the Phalangodidae of poorly
placed taxa and we propose that a distinct group of Indo-
Malayan “Phalangodine” constitutes a new family. The
new family belongs to the infraorder Grassatores and is
sister to the Southeast Asian Epedanidae based on molecu-
lar phylogenetic evidence. Based on morphological data
can be divided in two new subfamilies, one including the
genera Beloniscellus, Beloniscops, Belonisculus, Belo-
niscus and Kendengus (all previously in Phalangodidae,
although Beloniscus was originally in Epedanidae) and
the other including the genera Buparellus, Bupares,
Buparomma. The new family is endemic to Southeast
Asia and thus far contains 38 valid species. Members of the
family are distinguished from epedanids (and also from
all other Grassatores) by a capsula externa with dorso-
medial region rigid and forming a ditch accommodating
the capsula interna. Male genitalia are characterized and
detailed studied in representative species, including
Beloniscus quinquespinosus Thorell, 1891 and Belo-
niscus tricalcaratus Roewer, 1949, from Indonesia and
150 DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE REPORTS | No. 3, July 2, 2016
Cushing