Olpiidae Banks, 1895

Family

The Olpiinae were created by Banks (1895), but was largely ignored until Chamberlin (1930) raised the subfamily to family level and expanded the group to include the Garypininae. The tribe Hesperolpiini were added by Hoff (1964). Harvey (1992) was unable to demonstrate that the Olpiidae were monophyletic. The garypinines were removed from the Olpiidae by Judson (2005), leaving a more homogeneous assemblage of genera.

Composition

The family contains 36 genera and more than 260 species. They are divided into two subfamilies, Olpiinae and Hesperolpiinae, but the relationships between these two groups are unclear.

Distribution

Olpiids are found in most regions of the world, but are mostly found in xeric habitats. They occur under stones, in leaf litter and under bark of trees.

Important References

Heurtault, J. (1979c). Complément à la description de Olpium pallipes Lucas, 1845, type de la famille Olpiidae (Arachnides, Pseudoscorpions). Revue Suisse de Zoologie 86: 925-931.

References

Olpiidae Banks: Kishida, 1929: 124; Chamberlin, 1930: 588; Chamberlin, 1931a: 223-224; Beier, 1932a: 179; Beier, 1932g: 184; Roewer, 1937: 259; Petrunkevitch, 1955: 81; Morikawa, 1960: 125; Dubinin, 1962: 441; Beier, 1963b: 229-230; Hoff, 1964a: 18; Murthy and Ananthakrishnan, 1977: 30-31; Benedict and Malcolm, 1978a: 119; Muchmore, 1979a: 197; Muchmore, 1980e: 161; Muchmore, 1982a: 99; Harvey, 1985b: 146; R. Schuster, 1986a: 270; Harvey, 1991a: 262; Harvey, 1992c: 1422; Tooren, 2008: 423-424.