Superfamily CHTHONIOIDEA Daday, 1888
Compiler and date details
Mark S. Harvey, Western Australian Museum, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Introduction
The Chthonioidea have traditionally been considered to comprise one or two families, but Harvey (1992) added another, elevating the Lechytiini to full family level. He also included the Devonian family Dracochelidae (Schawaller, Shear & Bonamo 1991), the oldest known pseudoscorpion.
The Australian chthonioid fauna includes described species in Chthoniidae and Tridenchthoniidae, and a single undescribed species of Lechytia (Lechytiidae), recorded from eastern Queensland (Harvey, unpublished data).
Diagnosis
The Chthonioidea differ from all other pseudoscorpions by the presence of trichobothria ib and isb on the dorsum of the chelal hand, a straight median maxillary lyrifissure, a lateral apodeme frame in the female genitalia, and an anterior protuberance on coxa I.
General References
Harvey, M.S. 1992. The phylogeny and systematics of the Pseudoscorpionida (Chelicerata: Arachnida). Invertebrate Taxonomy 6: 1373-1435
Schawaller, W., Shear, W.A. & Bonamo, P.M. 1991. The first Paleozoic pseudoscorpions (Arachnida, Pseudoscorpionida). American Museum Novitates 3009: 1-24