Genus: Alantakun Botero-Trujillo & Prendini, 2026 | Family: Ricinoididae Ewing, 1929 | Order: Ricinulei Thorell, 1876

Alantakun karschii (Hansen and Sørensen, 1904)

SPECIES |   ACCEPTED

Original combination: Cryptostemma Karschii

LSID urn:lsid:wac.nmbe.ch:name:c4dab044-f821-4c71-89f7-d9fa60e36a88

Genus type of Alantakun Botero-Trujillo & Prendini, 2026

Taxonomic references

Cryptostemma westermanni Guérin-Méneville:

Karsch, 1892a: 32, plate 4 figs 1–3
Karsch, 1892b: 64 (misidentifications)

Cryptostemma karschii

Hansen and Sørensen, 1904: 153–154, plate VIII figs 4a–b, plate IX figs 1a–l original description
Lankester, 1904: n/a, figs 73–76
Hansen, 1930: n/a, plate 14 fig. 9c
Petrunkevitch, 1913: n/a, fig. 41
Moritz and Fischer, 1980: 139

Ricinoides karschii (Hansen and Sørensen):

Ewing, 1929: 597
Kästner, 1932c: n/a, figs 132–133, 138–139, 143, 152
Bolívar y Pieltain, 1942: 201
Snodgrass, 1948: n/a, fig. 10d
Petrunkevitch, 1955a: 160, fig. 114(2)
Tuxen, 1974: 100, figs 1c, 29–33 (as Ricinoides karschi)
Legg, 1977a: 243–248, figs 1–21 (as Ricinoides karschi)
Hammen, 1979: 5, figs 2, 3, 5–21, 24–27
Harvey, 1984b: 209, fig. 11
Hammen, 1989: 435, figs 230a–d, 231a–e, 233a–c, 234a–e, 235a–e, 236a–e, 237a–d, 238a–e, 239a–f, 240a–c, 241a–b, 242a–d, 243a–d, 244a–f, 245a–d, 246a–d, 247a–d, 248a–f, 249a–g, 252a–e, 253a–e, 254a–d, 255a–f
Shultz, 1989: 18
Weygoldt, 2002f: 489 (as Ricinoides karschi)
Harvey, 2003c: 183
Talarico and Michalik, 2010: 384–390, figs 1a–c, 2a–f, 3a–f, 4a, 4b
Talarico, Lipke and Alberti, 2011: 90–114
Fernández and Giribet, 2015: 6, figs 1b, 2, 3

Alantakun karschii (Hansen and Sørensen):

Botero-Trujillo and Prendini, 2026: 23-27, Figs 3, 8F, 11A, B, 13A, 14A, 19, 22A, 23C, D, 24A, Table 1

Distribution
Distribution table

Realm: Central Africa

Cameroon
Congo - Brazzaville
Equatorial Guinea
Gabon
Type locality: Kribi (as Kribri), Sud, Cameroon. Rio Benito (as "flumen Benita"), Equatorial Guinea.

Coordinates

Locality Lat Lon
1 Kribi 2.933333 9.9
2 Rio Benito 1.55 9.8166
Type repository
  • Lectotype British Museum of Natural History (BMNH) (= NHM, Natural History Museum), London, UK 1 male (BMNH 13588959)
  • Paralectotype British Museum of Natural History (BMNH) (= NHM, Natural History Museum), London, UK 2 females (BMNH 13588959)
  • Paralectotype Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin (ZMB), Germany 1 male, 1 female (ZMB 7833)
Zoobank LSID

6C495943-4601-43AA-8553-859831CFC739

References

Bolívar y Pieltain, C. (1942). Estudio de un Ricinulideo de la Caverna de Cacahuamilpa, Guerrero, Mex. Revista de la Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural 2: 197–209. ZooBank: 71C8613F-D067-46FE-A942-8A7EA4196E4E -- Show included taxa

Ewing, H.E. (1929). A synopsis of the American arachnids of the primitive order Ricinulei. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 22: 583–600. ZooBank: 90AC2333-08F3-4F1A-BF25-F97CB1E1EDC2 -- Show included taxa

Fernández, R. & Giribet, G. (2015). Unnoticed in the tropics: phylogenomic resolution of the poorly known arachnid order Ricinulei (Arachnida). Royal Society Open Science 2(150065): 1–13. doi: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150065 -- Show included taxa

Hammen, L. van der (1979). Comparative studies in Chelicerata I. The Cryptognomae (Ricinulei, Architarbi and Anactinotrichida). Zoologische Verhandelingen 174: 1–62. -- Show included taxa

Hammen, L. van der (1989). An introduction to comparative arachnology. SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague. -- Show included taxa

Hansen, H.J. (1930). On the comparative morphology of the appendages in the Arthropoda. B. Crustacea (supplement), Insecta, Myriopoda, and Arachnida. In: Studies on Arthropoda Gyldendalske Boghandel, Kjøbenhavn 3: 1–376. -- Show included taxa

Hansen, H.J. & Sørensen, W. (1904). On two orders of Arachnida. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ZooBank: 0CC7E6DA-B25C-4387-A795-0005DBA0D05B -- Show included taxa

Harvey, M.S. (1984b). The female of Ricinoides westermannii (Guérin-Méneville), with notes on those of R. afzelii (Thorell) and R. karschii (Hansen & Sørensen) (Ricinulei). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 6: 205–210. -- Show included taxa

Harvey, M.S. (2003c). Catalogue of the smaller arachnid orders of the world: Amblypygi, Uropygi, Schizomida, Palpigradi, Ricinulei and Solifugae. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. -- Show included taxa

Karsch, F. (1892a). Ueber Cryptostemme Guér. als einzigen recenten Ausläufer der fosslien Arachnoideen-Ordnung der Meridogastra Thor.. Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift 37: 25–32. -- Show included taxa

Karsch, F. (1892b). Nachschrift zu meinem Aufsatze über Cryptostemma Guér.. Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift 37: 64. -- Show included taxa

Kästner, A. (1932c). Ricinulei Thorell. In: Kükenthal, W. (ed.) Handbuch der Zoologie Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin und Leipzig 3 (2) (4): 99–116. -- Show included taxa

Lankester, E.R. (1904). The structure and classification of the Arachnida. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science (new series) 48: 165–269. -- Show included taxa

Legg, G. (1977a). The external morphology of immature stages of Ricinoides karschi (Arachnida: Ricinulei). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 3: 243–248. -- Show included taxa

Moritz, M. & Fischer, S.-C. (1980). Die Typen der Arachniden-Sammlung des Zoologischen Museums Berlin. II. Uropygi, Amblypygi, Schizomida, Ricinulei, Solifuga. Mitteilung aus dem Zoologischen Museum in Berlin 56: 137–154. -- Show included taxa

Petrunkevitch, A. (1913). A monograph of the terrestrial Palaeozoic Arachnida of North America. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 18: 1–137, pl. 1–13. ZooBank: CA960B92-CB7E-4504-8224-FF2ECF4C5C6C -- Show included taxa

Petrunkevitch, A. (1955a). Arachnida. In: Moore, R.C. (ed.) Treatise on invertebrate paleontology. P, Arthropoda University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2: 42–162. ZooBank: F42C9AFA-4F47-4D06-BD19-40CBA0BFD5FC -- Show included taxa

Shultz, J.W. (1989). Morphology of locomotor appendages in Arachnida: evolutionary trends and phylogenetic implications. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 97: 1–56. -- Show included taxa

Snodgrass, R.E. (1948). The feeding organs of Arachnida, including mites and ticks. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 110(10): 1–93. -- Show included taxa

Talarico, G. & Michalik, P. (2010). Spermatozoa of an Old World Ricinulei (Ricinoides karschii, Ricinoidae) with notes about the relationships of Ricinulei within the Arachnida. Tissue and Cell 42: 383–390. doi: 10.1016/j.tice.2010.10.003 -- Show included taxa

Talarico, G., Lipke, E. & Alberti, G. (2011). Gross morphology, histology, and ultrastructure of the alimentary system of Ricinulei (Arachnida) with emphasis on functional and phylogenetic implications. Journal of Morphology 272(1): 89–117. doi: 10.1002/jmor.10897 -- Show included taxa

Tuxen, S.L. (1974). The African genus Ricinoides (Arachnida, Ricinulei). Journal of Arachnology 1: 85–106. -- Show included taxa

Weygoldt, P. (2002f). Chelicerata, Spinnentiere. In: Westheide, W. and Rieger, R. (ed.) Spezielle Zoologie Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin 1: Einzeller und Wirbellose Tiere: 449–497. -- Show included taxa

Botero-Trujillo, R. & Prendini, L. (2026). Phylogeny and revised generic classification of African Ricinulei (Ricinoididae), descriptions of five new genera, three new species, and comparative morphology of the male copulatory apparatus. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 480: 1–92. doi: 10.1206/0003-0090.480.1.1 -- Show included taxa

Logs
Date Type Reference Old value
2026-10-24 Species updated Old value
2026-10-24 Species updated Old value
2026-10-23 Species updated Old value
2026-10-23 Species updated Old value
2026-10-23 Species updated Old value
2026-10-23 Taxonomic reference update
2026-10-23 New taxonomic reference entry Botero-Trujillo and Prendini, 2026