Ferkeria Roewer 1947
Creators: name: Monteiro, Yago Ferro
name: Pinto-Da-Rocha, Ricardo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Opiliones
Cosmetidae
Ferkeria

description: Ferkeria Roewer, 1947
Ferkeria Roewer, 1947: 7; 1959: 80; Kury, 2003: 61.
Type species: Ferkeria vestita Roewer, 1947, by original designation.
Diagnosis. Ferkeria is characterized by its gamma type dorsal scutum (Fig. 1); anterior scutal area with moderately elevated frontal hump and high lateral tubercles (Figs. 2 B and 2D); tuberculate and dome-shaped ocularium, with a pair of large tubercles; densely tuberculate carapace; lateral scutal margins with prominent tubercles; unconspicuous scutal grooves; scutal areas I–IV each with a pair of tubercles (enlarged and spiniform on area IV); yellow patches on the sides of the carapace, reaching as far as the scutal area IV (Figs. 1, 8 and 9); posterior scutal margin with pair of prominent spines curved posteriorly; free tergites I–III with a row of tubercles; median extremity of anal operculum with a large pair of tubercles; isomorphic chelicerae in both sexes, tuberculate bulla (Figs. 1, 2 B and 2D); pedipalpal femur with dorsal tubercles and a prominent row of ventral tubercles (Figs. 5 A and 5C); wide, dimorphic coxa IV (large in male), reaching the posterior scutal margin, tuberculate and with a prolateral apical apophysis (Fig. 1); femur IV dorsally curved; femora–metatarsi I–IV covered with thick tubercles (Fig. 3); male’s basitarsi I and III dimorphic, enlarged; leg tarsi III and IV smooth; penis without dorsal process of glans, dorsally wrinkled glans base, stylus with gonopore and keels placed on apex, without ventral apical keels and ventral apice of the truncus with two pairs of small macrosetae group B (Figs. 6 and 7).
Comparison with other cosmetid genera. The cosmetids have the most convoluted taxonomy within Gonyleptoidea. The relationships of its genera are obscure, since the Roewerian system is still dominant and no comprehensive phylogeny is available for the group. Ferkeria is morphologically similar to Acantholibitia Mello- Leitão, 1928, Chusgonobius Roewer, 1952, Cynortoides Roewer, 1912, Libitiosoma Roewer, 1947, Platygyndes Roewer, 1943, Proerginus Roewer, 1917 and Vonones Simon, 1879, by having the gamma type scutal shape, frontal hump of dorsal scutum elevated and tuberculate (except Libitiosoma bolivianum Roewer, 1947), posterior scutal margin and free tergites with a row of tubercles, coxa I with prominent prolateral apophysis, coxa IV with a large prolateral apical apophysis, and isomorphic chelicerae (except in Proerginus). Two features, shared exclusively with Platygyndes, seem to relate both genera, the dome-shaped ocularium and dorsally-visible, wide coxa IV in males. However, we view this relationship with caution since the morphology of the family is poorly known. Ferkeria differs from all of the afore mentioned genera mostly by its non-flattened dorsal scutal areas, each with paired tubercles progressively enlarged towards the posterior margin. There are some notable characters on the morphology of the penis in Ferkeria, such as the two pairs of small, apical macrosetae group B on the ventral truncus, which differs from other genera within the family that have just one pair or none; the stylus with gonopore and keels placed on its apex, known only on genus Sibambea Roewer, 1917 (see figure 6 of Kury & Villarreal 2015); the glans with sac wrinkled on its dorsal face, contrasted with the other known genera were it is smooth dorsally.
description: Published as part of Monteiro, Yago Ferro & Pinto-Da-Rocha, Ricardo, 2015, Revision of the genus Ferkeria Roewer, 1947, with the description of a new species (Opiliones: Laniatores: Cosmetidae), pp. 361-373 in Zootaxa 4006 (2) on page 362, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4006.2.7, http://zenodo.org/record/243752