The Zalmoxidae are a family of harvestmen within the suborder Laniatores

Laniatores

Laniatores is the largest suborder of the arachnid order Opiliones with over 4,000 described species worldwide. The majority of the species are highly dependent on humid environments and usually correlated with tropical and temperate forest habitats....

.

Description

Zalmoxidae are small Laniatores of dark brown to dark yellow color with varied darker mottling. Some small edaphic

Edaphic

Edaphic is a nature related to soil. Edaphic qualities may characterize the soil itself, including drainage, texture, or chemical properties such as pH. Edaphic may also characterize organisms, such as plant communities, where it specifies their relationships with soil...

 species are pale yellowish.

Distribution

Members of this family are distributed throughout most tropical regions of the world, with the notable exception of mainland Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. While most occur from Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

 to Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, with a center of diversity in Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

, others are found in Oceania

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

, with many species in New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

. Some species are found on the Seychelles

Seychelles

Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....

 and Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

, although the single species described from Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 does not belong to Zalmoxidae.

Relationships

Zalmoxidae are closely related to Icaleptidae

Icaleptidae

The Icaleptidae are a small family of neotropical harvestmen within the suborder Laniatores. Although only two species have been described, many more are probably to be discovered.-Name:...

 and Fissiphalliidae

Fissiphalliidae

The Fissiphalliidae are a small neotropical family of harvestmen within the suborder Laniatores.-Name:The name of the type genus is combined from Latin fissus "split" and Ancient Greek phallos "penis".-Description:...

. The latter will possibly be merged into Zalmoxidae, although much research is to be done in this field.