Tridenchthoniidae Balzan, 1892
Family
The family was first proposed by Balzan (1892) for an unusual juvenile pseudoscorpion from South America, Tridenchthonius parvulus. The generic name was derived from the three blades of the galea; multiple galeal blades are found in all recorded tridenchthoniid nymphs. Chamberlin (1929) described the subfamily Dithinae within the Chthoniidae, which was later found to represent the same group as Tridenchthoniidae.
Composition
The family is divided into two subfamilies, the Tridenchthoniinae and the Verrucadithinae. The former contains eight genera, whilst the latter contains seven genera.
Distribution
Tridenchthoniids are found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and are usually found in leaf litter, soil, under stones or under bark of trees.
| Distribution | Count |
|---|---|
| 1 | |
| Argentina | 2 |
| Australia | 4 |
| Burundi | 1 |
| Brazil | 9 |
| Bhutan | 1 |
| Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) | 8 |
| Congo | 3 |
| Ivory Coast | 1 |
| Cameroon | 2 |
| China | 1 |
| Costa Rica | 1 |
| Cuba | 1 |
| Ecuador | 1 |
| Ethiopia | 1 |
| Micronesia | 1 |
| Ghana | 2 |
| Guinea | 2 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 1 |
| Indonesia | 4 |
| India | 2 |
| Jamaica | 2 |
| Japan | 2 |
| Kenya | 4 |
| Laos | 1 |
| Mexico | 2 |
| Malaysia | 1 |
| New Caledonia | 2 |
| Nigeria | 1 |
| Nepal | 1 |
| Peru | 1 |
| Papua New Guinea | 2 |
| Philippines | 3 |
| Pakistan | 2 |
| Palau | 1 |
| Paraguay | 3 |
| Rwanda | 1 |
| Seychelles | 1 |
| Suriname | 1 |
| Sao Tome and Principe | 2 |
| Thailand | 2 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 3 |
| Tanzania | 4 |
| Uganda | 1 |
| United States | 1 |
| Venezuela | 2 |
| Vietnam | 3 |
| South Africa | 6 |
Important References
Chamberlin, J.C. and Chamberlin, R.V. (1945). The genera and species of the Tridenchthoniidae (Dithidae). A family of the arachnid order Chelonethida. Bulletin of the University of Utah, Biological Series 9 (2): 1-67.
References
Tridenchthoniidae Balzan, 1892: 505; Chamberlin and R.V. Chamberlin, 1945: 6-15; Hoff, 1949b: 429; Hoff, 1963c: 27; Murthy and Ananthakrishnan, 1977: 9-10; Muchmore, 1982a: 96-97; Harvey, 1985b: 152; Harvey, 1991a: 217; Harvey, 1992c: 1399-1402.
Dithidae Chamberlin: Chamberlin, 1931a: 212; Beier, 1932g: 181; Roewer, 1937: 233; Petrunkevitch, 1955: 81; Morikawa, 1960: 92-93; Dubinin, 1962: 441.