Research Article

43 Pages·2016·1.27 MB·English

Research Article

ISSN 2336-9744 (online) | ISSN 2337-0173 (print)
The journal is available on line at www.biotaxa.org/em

Arachnogeographical comparison between West Palearctic and
Afrotropical Areas

PETAR BERON

National Museum of Natural History, Tsar Osvoboditel Bld 1, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
e-mail: [email protected]

Received 5 September 2016 │ Accepted 25 November 2016 │ Published online 28 November 2016.

Abstract
Comparison is made between the Arachnofaunas of Western Palearctic (Europe, SW Asia and North Africa to 20oN)
and Afrotropical (from 20oN to the line Zambezi – Kunene) areas.
This border (actually transition zone) divides two Kingdoms – Holarctic and Paleotropic. What concerns
Arachnida so far such comparison has never been made (for all the orders). Outlined are the endemic taxa and it is clear
that the difference is due mostly to climatic difference (for the warm preferring groups like Schizomida, Amblypygi,
Solifugae, Scorpiones, Ricinulei). Some groups in tropical Africa are relict (suborder Paleoamblypygi). In the Western
Palearctic such groups (endemic and relics) are the scorpions of the genera Belisarius and Akrav (with Southamerican
affinities). In our time the vast deserts like Sahara and the Arabian desert are a very important barrier for many groups.

Key words: Palearctic, Afrotropical, Arachnogeography.

Introduction

The northern part of Africa is included in the Palearctic Region and the boundary (usualy at 20oN) is
separating two Kingdoms – Holarctic and Paleotropical. It is common knowledge that a biogeographical
boundary is not a line, but rather a more or less wide transitional zone. We have also to take into account the
historical changes during the last several thousand years. Part of these changes is due to climatic factors,
other – to human activities (also causing changes in the climate), like deforestation, diverting of rivers, etc.
The traditional zoogeographic regions are delimitated mainly on the distribution of terrestrial
vertebrates. The difference between the regions and kingdoms are usually on much higher taxonomical level
when we consider vertebrates, than with the Arachnida. Differences between Afrotropical and Neotropical
regions, or between Holarctic and Paleotropical are between orders or suborders and very much between
families. Historically it was not as it is today. In green Sahara and Mediterranean Africa lived elephants,
crocodiles, giraffes, in Atlas mountains there were until recently ostriches, lions and bears. They were
exterminated by Man. We do not speak about geological periods when these animals (plus Tubulidentata,
Marsupialia, tapirs and many others) lived in Europe. The present day biogeographical subdivision should
consider the picture of the last several thousand years.
We don‘t know what was the distribution of many Arachnids over the green Sahara. It was not
influenced by the rare human population during the millenia, as it certainly was in Europe and North
America with the disappearing of forests and their replacement with anthropogenic landscape. Important
were also new crops like maiz and potatoes, chemization and other kinds of human intruding into the
ecosystems.
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If we follow the classical subdivision (Africa south of Sahara and the southernmost Arabia form the
Afrotropical Region), north of this ―line‖ is the Palearctic (different subregions). This ―line‖ (actually
transitional zone) is separing two kingdoms, so differences should be substantial. Let us check how the
known distribution of Arachnida fits into the classical scheme.

Geography and General Zoogeography of Western Palearctic

Here Western Palearctic is understood as embracing Europe, Africa North of 20oN and SW Asia (from
Bosphorus to Sind). Included is also Siberia west of Yenisey (Johanssen‘s line). Europe is divided into
Eurosiberian and Mediterranean Subregions. North Africa near Mediterranean Sea has also Mediterranean
fauna, to the South it changes into Saharo-Sindian desert fauna. Neither Europe, nor North Africa and Sahara
have always been as they are today. The glaciations changed the older fauna of Europe, than came the
destructive human activities. The forests have been very much reduced, and this brought a total
desappearence of many invertebrate communities. Such was also the case of the deforestation of
circummediterranean territory. South of the barren Atlas mountains once there was a green Sahara, gradually
desiccated (Bodenheimer, 1935, Darlington, 1957, de Lattin, 1967, Geptner, 1936, Udvardy, 1975).
Analyzing the Zoogeography of the Levant, Por (1975) reached to the conclusion that the Levant
province is a peculiar and complex ―subtraction-transition zone‖ (following the expression of Darlington,
1957). The Levant is ―a stretch of land about 150 km wide, wedged in between the [Mediterranean] sea and
the Syrio-Arabian desert, stretching from the mouth of the River Orontes and the Amanus and Taurus
mountain ranges in the north, to the Isthmus of Suez in the south‖(POR, 1975). This ―subtraction-transition
zone‖ between the Palae-arctic and Ethiopian Regions, born by the desertification, is called Palaeo-eremic
region. Usually the biota of the Levant is considered to be Palearctic (Mediterranean), but, according to Por
(1975), the inclusion of the Old World deserts in the Holarctis is due to a certain ―Europa-centrism‖ of the
scientists. ―According to this scheme, the Ethiopis begins only south of the Sahara, in the Savannas, where
the last of the typical Palaearctic animals fade out. However, if at all, the connections of of the Palaeo-eremic
faunal inventory are much closer to the Ethiopis than to Palaearctis….Our [Israel‘s] typical desert animals,
such as scorpions, agamas, gerbils, sand grouse and gazelles, have Ethiopian rather than Holarctic
connections, even if some species are so-called ―Mediterraneans‖ (Por, op. cit.).
According to the systems of Bodenheimer (1935) and Por (1975), in the Levant could be
distinguished four faunal elements: Palaearctic, Palaeo-eremic, Ethiopian and Oriental, with clear prevalence
(especially in the north) of the Palaearctics in most of the animal groups. The line along the foothills of
Northern Galilee and the Golan Heights was called by Por (1975) ―Nehring Line‖. South of it follows a
―transitional zone‖, where Palaearctic elements mingle with Palaeo-eremic elements.
More to the south Por (1975) outlines a ―Bodenheimer Line‖, which is the end of the transitional
zone. Follow Ramon Mountains and the mountains of Sinai. The ―Ethiopian element does not prevail in any
area. The Oriental species are even more scattered, without showing any geographical pattern. The endemic
species among the animals are chiefly of Palaeo-eremic, Ethiopian and also of Oriental origins.…This
suggests a higher age of the tropical element, and perhaps a younger and more expansive character of the
Holarctic species‖ (Por). In conclusion, ―The Levant province is a meeting place and transitional area
between the Palaearctic, Oriental and Ethiopian zoogeographic regions. The broad ―Palaeo-eremic desert belt
serves as a filtering barrier between the three faunal regions‖.
The islands of Macaronesia (Canaries, Madeira, Azorean Island) are here treated as part of the
Palearctic Region, Cabo Verde islands as part of the Afrotropical Region.

Africa between 20oN and Zambezi – Kunene (tropical, or intertropical Africa)

Geography, General Zoogeography and Paleogeography
The sub-Saharan Africa is situated between the usually accepted southern border (actually transition belt) of
the Palearctic (Holarctic), a frontier between one kingdom and another (Paleotropica).
South of the Sahara follow the belts of semidesert (Sahel) and the different types of savanna. In the
described area there are also high mountains with afroalpine vegetation and mountain rainforest.
Tropic rain forests are tropical moist forests of semi-deciduous varieties distributed across nine West
African countries. In the first half of the 1980s, an annual forest loss of 7200 square kilometers was note
down along the Gulf of Guinea, a figure equivalent to 4-5 percent of the total remaining rain forest area. By
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ARACHNOGEOGRAPHICAL COMPARISON BETWEEN WEST PALEARCTIC AND AFROTROPICAL REGION
1985, 72 percent of West Africa's rainforests had been transformed into fallow lands and an additional 9
percent had been opened up by timber exploitation. It is generally believed that firewood provides 75 per
cent of the energy used in sub-Sahara Africa. With the high demand, the consumption of wood for fuel
exceeds the renewal of forest cover.
The rain forests which remain in West Africa now merely are how they were hardly 30 years ago. In
Guinea, Liberia and the Ivory Coast, there is almost no primary forest cover left unscathed; in Ghana the
situation is much worse, and nearly all the rain forest are cut down. Guinea-Bissau loses 200 to 350 km² of
forest yearly, Senegal 500 km² of wooded savanna, and Nigeria 6,000,050,000 of both. Liberia exploits 800
km² of forests each year. Tropical Africa is about 18% of the world total covering 20 million km² of land in
West and Central Africa. Recent estimates show that the annual pace of deforestation in the region can vary
from 150 km² in Gabon to 2900 km² in Ivory Coast. Remaining tropical forest still cover major areas in
Central Africa but are abridged by patches in West Africa.
The tropical environment is rich in terms of bio-diversity. Tropical African forest is 18 per cent of
the world total and covers over 3.6 million square kilometers of land in West, East and Central Africa. This
total area can be subdivided to 2.69 million square kilometers (74%) in Central Africa, 680,000 square
kilometers (19%) in West Africa, and 250,000 square kilometers (7%) in East Africa. In West Africa, a chain
of rain forests up to 350 km long extends from the eastern border of Sierra Leone all the way to Ghana. In
Ghana the forest zone gradually dispels near the Volta river, following a 300 km stretch of Dahomey
savanna gap. The rain forest of West Africa continues from east of Benin through southern Nigeria and
officially ends at the border of Cameroon along the Sanaga river.
The variety of the African rain forest flora is also less than the other rain forests. This lack of flora
has been credited to several reasons such as the gradual infertility since the Miocene, severe dry periods
during Quaternary, or the refuge theory of the cool and dry climate of tropical Africa during the last severe
ice age of about 18000 years ago (Jeannel, 1961, Moreau, 1952, 1955, 1963, Rabinowitz, Coffin & Falvey,
1983)
What concerns the insects, it is worth reading Jeannel (1961, ―La Gondwanie et le peuplement
d‘Afrique‖): ‖Le peuplement entomologique de l‘Afrique gonwanienne peut être envisagé comme échelonné
sur deux périods. Au Jurassique et au Crétacé, c‘est l‘histoire des lignées autochtones qui ont pris naissance
sur cette portion d‘Inabrésie. Au Tertiaire, c‘est l‘histoire des migrations des lignées indo-malaises qui se
repandent en Afrique, realisant le type de distribution gondwanienne orientale; c‘est aussi l‘histoire des
lignées sudamadiennes qui se repandent dans l‘Afrique intertropicale. Alors que le peuplement de l‘Afrique
de l‘ère Secondaire a été seulement realisé par des lignées autochtones, selui de l‘ère Tertiaire se complique
par des apports venus de l‘Est et du Sud‖.
This analyses of the prominent French entomologist are based mostly on the distribution and the
affinities of Pselaphids and some other groups of Coleoptera. When studying the distribution of Arachnida,
it seems useful to compare the conclusions of Jeannel with the data extracted of the recent profound research
on many groups of Arachnids. It is clear, for exemple, that such group as Ricinulei in Africa (only in the
western part) suggest former very old ―Afrobrazilian‖ distribution. There are similar exemples also by other
groups (the family Neogoweidae – Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi).
Jeannel (loc.cit.) indicates that the equatorial forest in Central Africa was established in the Pliocene
and is only a residu of a much more extensive forest, coming from the Malaisian area and broken by the wast
steppic and desert regions of India, Arabia and East Africa, deprived of forest by climatic changes and
human activities. So, when defining a group, family or genus of Arachnids (for exemple in Madagascar) as
having African origin, we should think of a former origin of these (now East African) elements from South
East Asia. Some of the elements in the present day intertropical fauna of Africa actually originate of the
southern ―sudamadian‖ areas.

Paleogeography and Paleoclimatology

Laurasia
The name of the northern supercontinent, which was detached from Pangaea by 200 Ma, came from the
fusion of the names of Laurentia (the North American craton) and Eurasia. The supercontinent consists
roughly by Laurentia, Siberia, Baltica, Kazakhstania, and the North China and East China crаtons. Laurasia
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is considered as a Mesozoic phenomenon. Europe separated from Greenland in the Paleocene (ca. 60 million
years ago). Laurentia (North America) was detached from Eurasia around Cretaceous.

Table 1. Comparison between the orders, suborders and families of Arachnida in the Afrotropical and Palearctic
Regions.

Group Region Region
Afrotropical Palearctic
Order Palpigradi present present
Fam. Eukoeneniidae present present
Order Ricinulei present absent
Fam. Ricinoididae present absent
Order Solifugae present present
Fam. Galeodidae present present
Fam. Karschiidae absent present
Fam. Daesiidae present present
Fam. Solpugidae present present
Fam. Ceromidae present (southern Africa) absent
Fam. Melanoblossiidae present (southern Africa) absent
Fam. Gylippidae present (southern Africa) present
Fam. Hexisopodidae present (southern Africa) absent
Fam. Rhagodidae absent present
Order Scorpiones present present
Fam. Bothriuridae present (Namibia) Indian Himalaya
Fam. Buthidae present present
Fam. Pseudochactidae absent present
Fam. Euscorpiidae absent present
Fam. Scorpiopidae absent present
Fam. Troglotayasicidae absent ? present
Fam. Iuridae absent present
Fam. Diplocentridae absent present
Fam. Hemiscorpiidae absent present
Fam. Hormuridae present present
Fam. Scorpionidae present present
Fam. Akravidae absent present
Fam. Lisposomidae present (South Africa) absent
Order Schizomida present absent
Fam. Hubbardiidae present absent
Order Uropygi present (relict) present
Fam. Hypoctonidae present present
Order Amblypygi present present
Suborder Neoamblypygi present present
Fam. Charinidae present present
Fam. Phrynichidae present present
Suborder Paleoamblypygi present absent
Fam. Paracharontidae present absent
..continued on the next page
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ARACHNOGEOGRAPHICAL COMPARISON BETWEEN WEST PALEARCTIC AND AFROTROPICAL REGION
Table 1. (Continued)
Order Opiliones present present
Suborder Cyphophthalmi present present
Fam. Sironidae present present
Fam. Ogoveidae present absent
Fam. Neogoveidae present absent
Fam. Pettalidae present (South Africa) absent
Suborder Eupnoi present present
Fam. Caddidae present (South Africa) present (Japan)
Fam. Phalangiidae present present
Fam. Sclerosomatidae present present
Fam. Neopilionidae present (South Africa) absent
Suborder Dyspnoi absent present
Fam. Ischyropsalididae absent present
Fam. Sabaconidae absent present
Fam. Dicranolasmatidae absent present
Fam. Trogulidae absent present
Fam. Nemastomatidae absent present
Fam. Nipponopsalididae absent present (Japan, Korea)
Suborder Laniatores present present
Fam. Cladonychiidae absent present (Holoscotolemon)
Fam. Travuniidae absent present
Fam. Triaenonychidae present (South Africa) present (Japan, Korea)
Fam. Assamiidae present absent
Fam. Biantidae present Nepal, India
Fam. Epedanidae absent Japan, India, Taiwan,
Fam. Phalangodidae absent present
Fam. Podoctidae present present (Japan, India)
Fam. Pyramidopidae present absent
Fam. Samoidae present (Mozambique) absent
Fam. Zalmoxidae Seychelles absent
Order Pseudoscorpiones present present
Suborder Epiocheirata present present
Fam. Chthoniidae present present
Fam. Tridenchthoniidae present, India, Seychelles, Japan, Bhutan, Nepal,
Fam. Pseudotyrannochthon. absent present
Fam. Lechytiidae present present
Fam. Feaellidae present India
Suborder Iocheirata present present
Fam. Ideoroncidae present present
Fam. Hyidae absent India,
Fam. Gymnobisiidae present (South Africa) present
Fam. Neobisiidae present present
Fam. Syarinidae present present
..continued on the next page
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Table 1. (Continued)
Fam. Garypidae present present
Fam. Geogarypidae present present
Fam. Larcidae absent present
Fam. Cheiridiidae present present
Fam. Pseudochiridiidae present India, Nepal
Fam. Olpiidae present present
Fam. Garypinidae present (South Africa) present
Fam. Menthidae present (Socotra) present (Israel)
Fam. Sternophoridae present India
Fam. Withiidae present present
Fam. Cheliferidae present present
Fam. Atemnidae present present
Fam. Chernetidae present present
Order Araneae present present
Suborder Mesothelae absent present
Fam. Liphistiidae absent present
Suborder Orthothelae present present
Infraorder Mygalomorphae present present
Fam. Microstigmatidae present (South Africa) absent
Fam. Hexathelidae
(Macrothelinae) present present
Fam. Dipluridae (Euagrinae) present present
Fam. Nemesiidae present (southern Africa) present
Fam. Theraphosidae present present
Fam. Atypidae present present
Fam. Antrodiaetidae absent present (Japan)
Fam. Cyrtaucheniidae present present
Fam. Idiopidae present present
Fam. Ctenizidae present (southern Africa) present
Fam. Migidae present absent
Infraorder Araneomorphae present present
Fam. Archaeidae present (southern Africa) absent
Fam. Hypochilidae absent present
Fam. Austrochilidae present (southern Africa) absent
Fam. Filistatidae present present
Fam. Drymusidae present (South Africa) absent
Fam. Scytodidae present present
Fam. Sicariidae present present
Fam. Leptonetidae absent present
Fam. Ochyroceratidae present ? present (China)
Fam. Telemidae present present
Fam. Pholcidae present present
..continued on the next page
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ARACHNOGEOGRAPHICAL COMPARISON BETWEEN WEST PALEARCTIC AND AFROTROPICAL REGION
Table 1. (Continued)
Fam. Caponiidae present absent
Fam. Tetrablemmidae present India
Fam. Dysderidae present absent
Fam. Oonopidae present present
Fam. Orsolobidae present (southern Africa) absent
Fam. Segestriidae present present
Fam. Eresidae present present
Fam. Hersiliidae present present
Fam. Oecobiidae present present
Fam. Palpimanidae present present
Fam. Mimetidae present present
Fam. Deinopidae present present
Fam. Uloboridae present present
Fam. Anapidae present present
Fam. Araneidae present present
Fam. Cyatholipidae present present
Fam. Linyphiidae present present
Fam. Sinopimoidae absent China (doubtfull status)
Fam. Symphytognathidae present present (1 sp. in Japan)
Fam. Synaphridae absent (but pres. on Madagascar) present
Fam. Tetragnathidae present present
Fam. Nephilidae present present
Fam. Theridiidae present present
Fam. Theridiosomatidae present present
Fam. Ctenidae present present
Fam. Lycosidae present present
Fam. Oxyopidae present present
Fam. Pisauridae present present
Fam. Psechridae absent present
Fam. Trechaleidae absent present
Fam. Zoridae present present
Fam. Zorocratidae present absent
Fam. Zoropsidae present (South Africa) present
Fam. Agelenidae present present
Fam. Amaurobiidae present present
Fam. Anyphaenidae present (South Africa) present
Fam. Cybaeidae absent present
Fam. Desidae present present
Fam. Dictynidae present present
Fam. Hahniidae present present
Fam. Sparassidae present present
Fam. Selenopidae present present
..continued on the next page
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Table 1. (Continued)
Fam. Zodariidae present present
Fam. Chummidae present (South Africa, end.) absent
Fam. Clubionidae present present
Fam. Miturgidae present present
Fam. Phyxelididae present present
Fam. Titanoecidae absent present
Fam. Ammoxenidae present (southern Africa) absent
Fam. Cithaeronidae present present
Fam. Gallieniellidae present absent
Fam. Gnaphosidae present present
Fam. Prodidomidae present present
Fam.Trochanteriidae present present
Fam. Philodromidae present present
Fam.Thomisidae present present
Fam. Salticidae present present
Fam. Corinnidae present present
Fam. Liocranidae present present
Order Opilioacarida present present
Fam. Opilioacaridae present present
Order Holothyrida absent (only Seychelles) absent
Order Ixodida present present
Fam. Argasidae present present
Fam. Ixodidae present present
Fam. Nuttalliellidae present (southern Africa) absent
Order Mesostigmata present present
Order Sarcoptiformes present present
Order Trombidiformes present present

Analysis and comments`
The Afrotropical Region is bordering only the western part of the huge Palearctic Region (Saharo-Sindian
Province). For many higher taxa is marked ―present‖ for both Regions, but actually they may be distributed
in tropical Africa and, say, Japan or Korea. Sometime inbetween there is a gap of thousands kilometers and
the difference between the arachnofauna of tropical Africa and Europe is much bigger.
Some comments on the distributions of the various taxa are needed.

General Arachnology and Arachnogeography
The northern boundaries of several orders cross the described area. Uropygi do not live in W. Palearctic (one
sp. in West Africa). The northern limit of Amblypygi is Morocco, Egypt, Israel, south Asia Minor, and the
islands Rhodes and Cos. The scorpions barely leave the Mediterranean climate in Europe. Schizomida and
Ricinulei are missing in the whole Palearctic. Solifugae (3 fam.) are limited to the south of Balkan peninsula,
in Iberian Peninsula and Sicily. In Europe Opilioacarida are represented only in the southernmost areas of
Italy and Greece and some islands. Palpigradi are distributed up to France, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary and
Romania. The opilions Laniatores in Europe live mostly in the southern caves (considered by some as
relicts). Similar is the situation of another suborder of Opiliones – Cyphophthalmi, well represented in
Iberian and Balkan peninsulas, but almost entirely missing in the North (one species in Poland). The other
orders (Araneae, Pseudoscorpions, Opiliones ―Palpatores‖, Acariformes and Parasitiformes) are better
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ARACHNOGEOGRAPHICAL COMPARISON BETWEEN WEST PALEARCTIC AND AFROTROPICAL REGION
represended in Northern Europe, but many families are missing. Entirely lacking in Palearctic and in
continental Africa is the order Holothyrida (Parasitiformes) (Beron, 2000, 2008b, Griffin, 1998, 2000,
Haddad, 2004, Harvey, 2003, Newlands, 1978), Vachon, 1950).
All orders of Arachnida are represented in tropical Africa, some of them by endemic families and
even suborders, like Paleoamblypygi – one sp., considered a ―living fossil‖). Between 20oN and Kunene-
Zambezi live six families of Solifugae, three fam. of Amblypygi (one endemic), Uropygi are represented by
one endemic genus (Etienneus) in West Africa, in the whole of Africa there are four genera of one family
of Schizomida (in one family; one subfamily endemic for southern Africa), 71 families of spiders, 15 fam. of
Opiliones, 20 fam. of Pseudoscorpiones, 3 end. genera of Opilioacarida, numerous mites and ticks
(Acaridida, Oribatida, Prostigmata, Mesostigmata, Ixodida). There are 8 described species of Palpigradi, one
genus (Allokoenenia Silv.) is endemic. Lacking are the suborders Dyspnoi (Opiliones), Mesothelae
(Araneae)
Special attention should be paid to the cave and high mountain Arachnids. The numerous caves of
Europe, Caucasus, Lebanon and Asia Minor harbour many endemic genera and species of Arachnida (mostly
Araneae, Pseudoscorpiones, Opiliones). North of the Alps the caves fauna is much poorer and the troblobites
are almost non existing (presumably due to the glaciations). Some cave Arachnida are known also from
Morocco and Algeria.

Palpigradi
In Europe (including Madeira) are registered 28 species of Palpigradi, all belonging to one genus –
Eukoenenia Börner (fam. Eukoeneniidae). They are recorded (without counting the subspecies) from France
(9), Italy (12), Greece (3), Bulgaria (1), Hungary (1), Austria (2), Bosna and Herzegovina (1), Croatia (2),
Malta (2), Portugal (2), Romania (4), Slovakia (1), Slovenia (1), Spain (4) – 14 countries (Bertrand, 1980,
Christian, 1998, Condé, 1951, 1956, 1979a, 1979b, 1980, 1990, 1996, Hansen, 1926, Mayoral & Barranco,
2002b, Peyerimhoff, 1902, 1908, Remy, 1948, 1952, 1957, Rowland & Sissom, 1980).
Christian et al. (2014) described two species from Italy (Eukoenenia lanai Christian and E. roscia
Christian) and concluded that ―Our area [the Alps of SW Piedmont] is part of the most prominent
Pleistocene refugium of the SW Alps…. It lies south of the Holdhaus line, which roughly marks the northern
range boundaries of troglobiotic beetles and other subterranean arthropods with similarly limited means of
dispersal… Though the area overlaps the border of maximum Würm glaciation (Casazza et al. 2008),
subterranean habitats for palpigrades may have existed continuously since late Neogene times‖. Christian
(2014) described also the new troglobite species Eukoenenia vargowitshi from Abhazia.
In Iberian Peninsula (all from Spain and from the two slopes of the Pyrenees) have been recorded
Eukoenenia bouilloni Condé, 1980, E. brolemanni (Hansen, 1926), E. draco zariquieyi (Condé, 1951), E.
hispanica (Peyerimhoff, 1908), E. pyrenaella Condé, 1990, E. pyrenaica (Hansen, 1926), E. gadorensis
Mayoral et Barranco, 2002, E. mirabilis (Grassi et Calandruccio, 1885)(Barranco & Mayoral, 2007).
Remy (1949) reported from Corsica Eukoenenia mirabilis and E. berlesei. Eukoenenia patrizii
Condé, 1956 (endemic) was described from Sardinia, E. mirabilis was recorded from Sardinia by Roewer
(1953).
From Sardinia Condé & Heurtault (1995) described a second troglobitic (endemic ?) species – E.
grafittii. The first known species of the order E. mirabilis (Grassi et Calandruccio, 1885) is known from
Sicily.
As a whole, six species of Palpigradi have been recorded from seven islands of the Mediterranean:
Sicily, Sardinia, Majorca, Iraklia nr. Naxos, Kithira, Corfu and Malta.
The only species known from Malta is Eukoenenia christiani Condé from a cave (Condé, 1988).
Barranco & Mayoral (2007) described from the cave of Kef Aziza in Morocco the new species
Eukoenenia maroccana – the third Moroccan Palpigradi, after E. mirabilis (Grassi et Calandruccio, 1885)
and E. hanseni (Silvestri, 1913).
Very few Palpigradi have been described from tropical Africa: Eukoenenia pauli Condé, 1979
(Gabon), E. angolensis (Remy, 1956), E. machadoi (Remy, 1950) (Angola), E. hesperia (Remy, 1953)(Ivory
Coast), E. kenyana Condé, 1979 (Kenya), Koeneniodes notabilis Silvestri, 1913, Leptokoenenia scurra
Monniot, 1966 (Congo), and Allokoenenia afra Silvestri, 1913 (Guinea) (Remy, 1950, 1953, 1956, Monniot,
1966, Condé, 1979, Silvestri, 1913). The genus Allokoenenia is endemic for tropical Africa. This number
does not reflect the real picture of the distribution of Palpigradi between 20oN and Kunene-Zambezi. These
tiny and fragile creatures are rarely collected, mostly by the few specialists on them in person.
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Eukoenenia lawrencei Remy, 1957 is the only species of this order, known from Southern Africa.

Solifugae
The list of European Solifugae of Blick (2004) contains 18 sp., but geographically half of them live on
territories outside Europe (Rhodes, Asiatic Turkey, Cyprus, Canaries).
On the Balkan Peninsula (continental part, mostly in Greece), are recorded members of three
families of Solifugae (Alexiou, 2014):
Fam. Galeodidae – Galeodes Olivier: G. graecus C.L. Koch (Greece, Bulgaria), G. elegans Roewer
(Rep. Macedonia), G. hellenicus Roewer (Greece).
Fam. Karschiidae – Barrussus furcichelis Roewer, Eusimonia nigrescens Kraepelin (Greece).
Fam. Daesiidae – Biton ehrenbergi Karsch (Greece).
The northern boundary of Solifugae in eastern Europe (Galeodes graecus C.L. Koch, G. araneoides
Pallas) runs through SW Bulgaria (G. graecus C.L. Koch), Rep. Macedonia (G. elegans Roewer) and
Ukraine (Map 1).
On Iberian Peninsula is known Gluvia dorsalis (Latreille)(Daesiidae)(Spain, Portugal). In the Canary
Islands live Eusimonia wunderlichi Pieper (Karschiidae).
Only one species is known in Ukraine: Galeodes araneoides (Pallas) (Galeodidae).
From Mediterranean islands only on Sicily are known two species of Daesiidae (Biton ehrenbergi
Karsch and B. velox Simon).
In North Africa are distributed Solifugae from 19 genera and the families Galeodidae, Karschiidae,
Daesiidae, Solpugidae, and Rhagodidae. A numerous genus is Galeodes Olivier with 25 sp. in N. Africa.
Endemic genus of Solifugae for North Africa is Barrus Simon, 1880 – Egypt (1 sp.)

Figure 1. Distribution of Solifugae in Europe.

Ecol. Mont., 7, 2016, 464-506 473