Taito (harvestman) explained

Taito is a genus of harvestmen in the family Cosmetidae. The genus is endemic to the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.^{[1] [2]}

Taxonomy

The genus is named for the Japanese video game company Taito because the colorful body marks of the species in this genus resemble the aliens from their Space Invaders video game. The type species of the genus, Taito spaceinvaders, is named for the game as well. Another species is named for the similar 1981 game, Galaga.

Some species in this genus were formerly placed in Cynortula, Eucynortella, and Cynorta; however, the general taxonomy of Cosmetidae is poorly known and so most genera are monotypic genera or wastebin taxa. These species were moved to Taito largely based on morphological evidence.

Species

There are currently 15 described species in Taito:

Notes and References

1. Kury. Adriano B. Barros. Carla ML. 2014-05-01. A new genus and eight new species of Amazonian cosmetines (Opiliones, Laniatores, Cosmetidae). Zoological Studies. en. 53. 1. 24. 10.1186/s40555-014-0024-4. 1810-522X. free.
2. Friedrich. Stefan. Lehmann. Tobias. 2020-01-28. Taito adrik, a new harvestman species from the Área de Conservación Privada Panguana, Peruvian Amazonia (Opiliones: Laniatores: Cosmetidae). Zootaxa. en. 4729. 1. 105–115. 10.11646/zootaxa.4729.1.7. 1175-5334.