Superfamily FEAELLOIDEA Ellingsen, 1906
Compiler and date details
Mark S. Harvey, Western Australian Museum, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Introduction
The Feaelloidea are amongst the most unusual of all pseudoscorpions and their systematic position has been the subject of speculation. Harvey (1988 1992) presented arguments for including them, as the sister-group to the Chthonioidea, in the suborder Epiocheirata. The two feaelloid families have markedly contrasting and disjunct distributions, and Australia is the only region of the world where both are present, albeit at opposite ends of the continent.
Diagnosis
Feaelloids can be easily distinguished from other pseudoscorpions by the presence of 3–6 anterior carapaceal lobes.
General References
Harvey, M.S. 1988. The systematics and biology of pseudoscorpions. pp. 75-85 in Austin, A.D. & Heather, N.W. (eds). Australian Arachnology. Brisbane : Australian Entomological Society 137 pp.
Harvey, M.S. 1992. The phylogeny and systematics of the Pseudoscorpionida (Chelicerata: Arachnida). Invertebrate Taxonomy 6: 1373-1435