Mem. Хат. Mus. Уіст., 16, 1949 
AUSTRALIAN OPILIONES 
By R. В. Forster, 
Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, N.Z. 
Figs. 1-44, 
(Received for publication April 7, 1949.) 
‚The Australian Opilionid fauna is but poorly known. Fifty- 
nine species have now been recorded, including the seven new 
Species described in the present paper. Unfortunately, all the 
work to date has been done by overseas workers who have relied 
on preserved material, accompanied by very little field data. 
Hence it is not surprising to find that a considerable amount of 
confusion has arisen through the failure to consider numerous 
significant factors, especially those pertaining to the pronounced 
sexual dimorphism occurring in a large percentage of the 
Australian species. 
The present paper is based mainly on the collections in the 
National Museum of Victoria, kindly forwarded to me for exam- 
ination by the Director, Mr. R. T. M. Pescott, and supplemented 
by further material collected over the last two years by Mr. R. A. 
Dunn, of Melbourne. I am indebted to Professor V. V. Hickman, 
of Hobart, Tasmania, for valuable information on the related 
Tasmanian fauna, and for supplying the material from which 
Paranuncia gigantea has been re-described. 
The present collection is probably more comprehensive than 
any previously studied, and fortunately a considerable series of 
both sexes of a number of species are available. Perhaps the most 
important result embodied in this paper is the establishment 
of a new subfamily, Megalopsalinae of the Phalangiidae. This 
subfamily probably includes all the Palpatores known from Aus- 
tralia. It is remarkable that the presence of a distinctly pectinate 
pedipalp tarsal claw should have been overlooked in all previous 
descriptions, as this character is undoubtedly the most distinctive 
one used to separate the subfamilies of the Phalangiidae. 
In addition to the species described below, I have examined 
male specimens of Megalopsalis serritarsus Sor. from New South 
Wales, and a number of immature Phalangiidae from Western 
Australia. In all cases, the pedipalp tarsal claw was strongly 
pectinate. Professor Hickman informs me that the pedipalp claw 
of Pantopsalis tasmanica Hogg is also pectinate. As it is now 
59 
