Sabaconidae

Sabaconidae Temporal range:
Sabacon cavicolens
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Opiliones
Superfamily:	Ischyropsalidoidea
Family:	Sabaconidae Dresco, 1970
Type species
Sabacon paradoxus Simon, 1879
Diversity
1 genus, 59 species

Sabaconidae is a family of harvestmen with 59 described species in one genus, Sabacon, which is found throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

Name

The name of the type genus is derived from "Sabacon", an Egyptian king.

Description

This family is very easily recognizable on the basis of the unique pedipalp morphology, which is densely covered in plumose setae, and features a concave depression on the tibia, and a bulbous tarsus, which fits snugly into the tibial depression.

Distribution

Sabaconidae exhibits a wide, yet highly disjunct, distribution. Species can be found throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, though individual species usually have very restricted distributions.

Fossil Record

There is one species, Sabacon claviger [(Menge, 1854) (and its synonym Sabacon bachofeni Roewer, 1939), known from Baltic amber.

Relationships

Sabaconidae belongs to the superfamily Ischyropsalidoidea. The family originally consisted of just the genus Sabacon, though Taracus was later added to the family. Hesperonemastoma was later moved to this family, as well, after molecular studies confirmed that this genus was closely related to Taracus. However, a new family, Taracidae, was later erected for Hesperonemastoma and Taracus, leaving Sabaconidae once again as having just a single genus (i.e. monogeneric). Currently, Sabaconidae is thought to be more closely related to Taracidae than Ischyropsalididae. The internal relationships of Sabaconidae are poorly understood.