Haasus naasane Aharon, Ballesteros, Crawford, Friske, Gainett, Langford, Santibáñez-López, Ya'aran, Gavish-Regev & Sharma, 2019
Haasus naasane is a very small (total length under 2mm) species of harvestman known only from the A’rak Na’asane Cave in the Judean desert. It inhabits deep, humid cave habitats, with temperatures of 25.7–26.1°C.
Haasus naasane was found to be a sister species of H. judaeus Roewer, 1949, which inhabits epigean habitats is the Levant. It differs from H. judaeus by the lack of eyes, as well as longer body, paler color, more gracile legs
photo by: Shlomi Aharon
An individual in its natural habitat
and by proportions of the pedipalps.
Typically to harvestmen of the suborder Laniatores, H. naasane is carnivorous, catching its prey (smaller cave arthropods) with the aid of its strong, spiny pedipalps. The sexes in this species can be distinguished based on the proportions of the legs and the genital operculum.
Prior to research on H. naasane, Haasus was considered to belong in the widely distributed family Phgalangodidae. It was recently found to belong in Pyramidopidae, a largely Afrotropical family. Haasus is currently considered to be a relict taxon in the Holarctic region.
Distribution map
Accession in GENBANK:
Articles about Haasus naasane:
Aharon, S., Ballesteros, J. A., Crawford, A. R., Friske, K., Gainett, G., Langford, B., Santibáñez-López, C. E., Ya’aran, S., Gavish-Regev, E. & Sharma, P. P. (2019). The anatomy of an unstable node: a Levantine relict precipitates phylogenomic dissolution of higher-level relationships of the armoured harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones: Laniatores). Invertebrate Systematics, 33(5), 697-717.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1071/IS19002
Gavish-Regev, E., Aharon, S., Armiach Steinpress, I., Seifan, M., & Lubin, Y. (2021). A Primer on Spider Assemblages in Levantine Caves: The Neglected Subterranean Habitats of the Levant—A Biodiversity Mine. Diversity, 13(5), 179.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/d13050179
Taxonomic Classification
Class: Arachnida
Order: Opiliones
Family: Pyramidopidae
Genus: Haasus
Species: Haasus naasane
Authors: Aharon, Ballesteros, Crawford, Friske, Gainett, Langford, Santibáñez-López, Ya'aran, Gavish-Regev & Sharma, 2019
Ecological Classification
Category: Troglobite
Cave zone: Deep zone
Microhabitat: On ground