Taracus
Creators: name: Shear, William A.
name: Warfel, Joseph G.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Opiliones
Taracidae
Taracus

description: Key to species of Taracus
1a. Eyes reduced in size, poorly pigmented or unpigmented...................................................... 2.
1b. Eyes large, well-pigmented, black....................................................................... 4.
2a. Total length of chelicerae about twice that of body; cave in Schell River Range, Nevada ................... taylori, n. sp.
2b. Chelicerae about three times as long as body............................................................... 3.
3a. Metatarsi of all legs of males with false articulations, females with false articulations only in legs 2; penis about 8 times longer than wide; lava tubes in southcentral Oregon ................................................ marchingtoni, n. sp.
3b. Only leg pair 2 of males with metatarsal false articulations; penis about 5 times longer than wide; lava tubes in Hat Creek Lava Flow, Shasta Co., California ................................................................ fluvipileus, n. sp.
4a. Legs usually dark brown to black; Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico ................................ packardi Simon.
4b. Legs pale, may be shaded darker distally or have darker spotting............................................... 5.
5a. Males with scutum parvum, females with scutum laminatum or with dorsal midline sclerotized patches on first two abdominal segments........................................................................................... 6.
5b. Males with at most two or three midline sclerotized patches anterior on abdomen, females lacking such patches, or both sexes without abdominal sclerotized patches, though small sclerotized plaques may surround bases of abdominal setae......... 9.
6a. False articulations in metatarsi of all legs (may be indistinct in leg 4); widespread, from Puget Sound area to southern Oregon ......................................................................................... pallipes Banks.
6b. False articulations in metatarsi of leg pair 2 only............................................................ 7.
7a. Females with dorsal consolidated sclerotized patches on abdominal segments 1–4; males with abdominal scutum strongly scle- rotized, lateral edges well-defined; northern Rocky Mountains from Idaho to Alberta, western Washington and Oregon ................................................................................ gertschi Goodnight & Goodnight.
7b. Females with such patches only on abdominal segments 1 and 2; males with lateral and possibly posterior margins of scutum
diffuse, irregular..................................................................................... 8. 8a. Palpus long, thin, 12–14 mm in length; females about 7–8 mm long (males unknown); Oregon Caves National Monument.......................................................................................... silvestrii Roewer.
8b. Palpus shorter, stouter, 7–9 mm in length; females about 5–6 mm long, males 4.5–5.0 mm long; California north of San Francisco Bay................................................................................... ubicki n. sp.
9a. Abdominal setae numerous, arising from sclerotized plaques that may be raised; false articulations in all metatarsi (females unknown); Vancouver Island ................................................................ carmanah, n. sp.
9b. Abdominal setae relatively few, not arising from sclerotized plaques, false articulations in metatarsi of leg pair 2 only, or apparently absent.................................................................................... 10.
10a. Chelicerae about three times body length, second article in males notably more massive than first article; Sierra Nevada in California ................................................................................. audisioae, n. sp.
10b. Chelicerae twice body length, second article in males not more massive than first article, similar to that of females...... 11.
11a. Penis stout, about 5 times as long as wide; caves in Wasatch Mountains, Utah ...................... … timpanogos, n. sp.
11b. Penis long and thin, about 10 to 12 times as long as wide (females unknown); cave in Ruby Mountains, Nevada ................................................................................................... spesavius, n. sp.
description: Published as part of Shear, William A. & Warfel, Joseph G., 2016, The harvestman genus Taracus Simon 1879, and the new genus Oskoron (Opiliones: Ischyropsalidoidea: Taracidae), pp. 1-71 in Zootaxa 4180 (1) on pages 15-16, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4180.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/164222