Hirstienus nanus (Hirst, 1913:36)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Phalangodes? nanus Hirst, 1913:36
Hirst (1913:36) was uncertain about the generic placement of the species when describing it and doubtfully placed it in Phalangodes (viz. 'Phalangodes?'). Staręga (1992:291) treated the species under the same doubtful genus Phalangodes (viz. 'P. ? nanus'), and noted: "Systematic position doubtful but certainly not a Phalangodes". However, Hirstienus was already erected for Phalangodes? nanus by (Roewer, 1949:143), and it remains monotypic today (Sharma et al., 2011:147). It has not been recorded since the holotype was collected in 1908 (Sharma et al., 2011; Gerlach, 2014b), despite extensive surveys in potential habitat and it has thus been evaluated as Extinct by the IUCN Red list (Gerlach, 2014b). However, H. nanus may be a senior synonym of the extant Samoa sechellana Rambla, 1984 (Sharma et al., 2011), and would thus qualify as taxonomically rediscovered.
Conservation Status
Extinct (Gerlach, 2014b)
Last (and only) record: 1908 (Sharma et al., 2011 [holotype only; no date]; Gerlach, 2014b [date])
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution & Habitat
Mahé, Seychelles
Type locality: Mahé (Hirst, 1913:37)
Biology & Ecology
Unknown, but the species probably inhabited woodland (Gerlach, 2014b).
Hypodigm
Holotype: female (Hirst, 1913:37)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Hirst, Arthur Stanley. (1913). The Percy Sladen Trust Expedition to the Indian Ocean in 1905 under the leadership of Mr. J. Stanley Gardiner. No. II. - Second report on the Arachnida - The scorpions, pedipalpi, and supplementary notes on the opiliones and pseudoscorpions. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London (2) 16(1): 31-37.
Other references:
Gerlach, Justin. (2014a). Hirstienus nanus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 07 July 2014.
Gerlach, Justin. (2014b). Hirstienus nanus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014: e.T21460734A21514465. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T21460734A21514465.en. Accessed on 20 June 2022.
Gerlach, Justin and Marusik, Yuri. (2010). Arachnida and Myriapoda of the Seychelles islands. Siri Scientific Press, Manchester.
Roewer, Carl Friedrich. (1949). Einige neue Gattungen der Phalangodidae (Opiliones). Veröffentlichungen aus dem Museum für Natur-, Völker- u. Handelskunde in Bremen, Bremen, Reihe A: Naturwissenschaften 1: 143-144. [Issued July 1949]
Sharma, P. P., Prieto, C. E. and Giribet, G. (2011). A new family of Laniatores (Arachnida: Opiliones) from the Afrotropics. Invertebrate Systematics 25(2): 143-154.
Staręga, Wojciech. (1992). An annotated check-list of Afrotropical harvestmen, excluding the Phalangiidae (Opiliones). Ann. Natal Mus. 33(2): 271-336. [October]
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/18294/hirstienus-nanus