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Copyright of Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad is the property of Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Biologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Palpigradi are a poorly understood group of delicate arachnids, often found in caves or other subterranean habitats. Concomitantly, they have been neglected from a phylogenetic point of view. Here we present the first molecular phylogeny of palpigrades based on specimens collected in different subterranean habitats, both endogean (soil) and hypogean (caves), from Australia, Africa, Europe, South America and North America. Analyses of two nuclear ribosomal genes and COI under an array of methods and homology schemes found monophyly of Palpigradi, Eukoeneniidae and a division of Eukoeneniidae into four main clades, three of which include samples from multiple continents. This supports either ancient vicariance or long-range dispersal, two alternatives we cannot distinguish with the data at hand. In addition, we show that our results are robust to homology scheme and analytical method, encouraging further use of the markers employed in this study to continue drawing a broader picture of palpigrade relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several specimens of the tropical schizomid Stenochrus portoricensis Chamberlin, 1922 (family Hubbardiidae) were found in the Poznań Palm House, representing the first record of micro-whip scorpions (Schizomida) from Poland. Stenochrus portoricensis is an alien species in temperate climates, and has been accidentally introduced to greenhouses via potted plants. Its parthenogenetic lifestyle allows for the easy transfer of populations to new locations and the successful founding of new colonies. New DNA sequence data for Stenochrus portoricensis are presented, which comprise a fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (DNA barcode sequence) from mitochondrial DNA, and a fragment of the 28S rRNA gene (D1-D3 regions) from nuclear DNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]