Notes on Amblypygi 
Found in Territories Adjacent to Japan 
Haruo Takashima 1 
The Pedipalpi form an order of arachnids 
found throughout Asia, the Australian islands, 
and the tropical and subtropical regions of 
Africa and North and South America. This 
order contains about 160 species, divided into 
3 families and 26 genera. The majority of 
them are found in India, the Indo-Malayan 
region, Central America, and northern South 
America. These two major concentrations in 
the Old and the New Worlds appear to be 
the centers of dispersions for the Pedipalpi. 
Some species are quite small, so small that 
they can hardly be seen by the naked eye. 
Consequently, many of them have little in- 
terest to our daily lives. However, this group 
is very interesting scientifically and attracts 
the attention of many arthropodologists. 
The Amblypygi, one of the several families 
of the Pedipalpi, is subdivided into 3 sub- 
families, 13 genera, and about 53 species 
which inhabit the tropical and subtropical 
regions of Asia, Africa, America, and some 
of the neighboring islands of Australia. Their 
appearance is somewhat grotesque, but they 
are harmless and not to be feared, having no 
poison or strong biting jaws. Amblypygi have 
the following diagnosis: carapace much wider 
than its length; edge of abdomen round with 
no caudal appendage; tarsi of first pair of 
legs extraordinarily long and slender with 
many joints. 
Among the 13 known genera, Charon 
Karsch, 1879, alone is found in territories 
adjacent to Japan. It has the following diag- 
nosis: the tibia of the pedipalps is not broadly 
^amashina’s Institute for Ornithology and 
Zoology, Nampeidai-Machi, Shibuya, Tokyo, Ja- 
pan. Manuscript received October 24, 1949. 
extended; the upper ridge of the tibia has 
two long spines which are almost the same 
length and much longer than those of the 
other tibia; its hand has only one long spine 
on each of the upper and lower ridges; there 
are two to four small spines on the anterior 
part of the long spine, and they become grad- 
ually longer near the apex. Fingers are not 
segmented and usually have no spines, but 
if they are present, only minute ones are 
seen at the proximal end. The corrugation 
on the abdomen is clearly visible at the mar- 
gin of the second abdominal sternum. Of 
these characteristics, the most useful in dis- 
tinguishing this genus from all others is the 
absence of joints in the fingers. 
Some authors divide this genus into sev- 
eral species, but I consider it monotypic, with 
a single species known as Charon grayi Ger- 
vais, 1844. Furthermore, I do not think it is 
necessary to recognize subspecies, for varia- 
tions are individual and not worthy of such 
recognition. I propose to call this species 
"Kanimushi Modoki” in Japanese. 
C. grayi is found in the Malay Peninsula, 
Java, the Philippines, Botel Tobago (or 
Kotosho near Formosa), Sumbawa, Amboina, 
New Guinea, the Bismarks, and the Solomons 
and Palau (Pelew) in Micronesia; it appears 
rare in the Malay Peninsula, while rather 
common in the Philippines, Manila being its 
type locality. 
Amblypygi were reported for the first time 
from Micronesia by Dr. T. Esaki (1936) who 
obtained a male, a female, and a juvenile on 
the island of Peleliu in the Palau group. 
Since that time this animal has been found 
occasionally in the Palau group — as far as I 
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