Paracharon caecus?

[schmiggle]

Apparently this is a species whose type species is from Guinea-Bissau. However, I have been unable to find pictures; the most I was able to find was a paper describing two fossils in amber which were new species in the same genus. It seems to be the most ancient species of whipspider still in existence. Has anyone ever seen this species? Do you have pictures? Descriptions?
Here's a link to the paper. The other species are apparently very, very small:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...LWkR5snTwl85dNg&bvm=bv.89217033,d.eXY&cad=rja

 

[Hydrophilus]

schmiggle,
The paper you linked actually describes two new genera and species, albeit one is from the same family (Paracharontidae). Paracharon caecus is still the only known species from that genus; fossil, extant, or otherwise.
You can find the original description here, on pages 11-12: https://archive.org/stream/studiesonarthrop0121hans#page/10/mode/2up

Although there aren't any illustrations of the entire specimens, there are detailed sketches of the various body parts, including one with the prosoma, chelicerae, and a single pedipalp.

Some of the highlights of this species' uniqueness:
-blind, with long sensory hairs on walking legs
-small body size, largest specimen with body length of only 7.3mm, and the second leg is 8.6mm
-so far they appear to be endemic to Guinea-Bissau and Guinea, although more specimens may eventually be found in neighboring countries
-known exclusively, or nearly so, from the nests of termites

I, too, hope to see some one day.

Cheers,
Eric

 

[schmiggle]

Thanks very much! Never thought anyone would respond to this post. I suppose I probably meant the family originally, but I've totally forgotten at this point.

Maybe we could take an off-the-cuff trip to Guinea to sample termite nests and what not.

 

[Hydrophilus]

I was thinking the same thing! Would love to at least take pictures of living specimens... for science! There's also plenty of other cool critters running around western Africa.

 

[Patherophis]

@schmiggle I know this is quite old thread, but I am not sure if You read this, and others may find it intersting too.

Garwood et al. 2017. The phylogeny of fossil whip spiders.
It includes good photos of P. caecus and lot of great info on Amblypygi in general.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316346672_The_phylogeny_of_fossil_whip_spiders

 

[schmiggle]

@schmiggle I know this is quite old thread, but I am not sure if You read this, and others may find it intersting too.

Garwood et al. 2017. The phylogeny of fossil whip spiders.
It includes good photos of P. caecus and lot of great info on Amblypygi in general.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316346672_The_phylogeny_of_fossil_whip_spiders

Thanks! I'll take a look at that over the next few days. Still haven't made it out to West Africa lol

 

[Hydrophilus]

@Patherophis - thank you for that link. Those are some really great images of Paracharon! Aside from being slightly more slender in the abdomen than I expected, they really don't look that odd. It would be great to see some live specimens. @schmiggle - why haven't you made it out to Africa yet? lol

 

[Arthroverts]

Paracharon is back in the headlines fellows, and they actually have pictures of a specimen!

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.26.489547v1.full.pdf

I must say that I am sorely disappointed however that are no pictures of a live specimen, and that info on the habitat it was found in, or even where in Colombia they found it, is not even mentioned.

Thanks,

Arthroverts