Taxonomic Study On Chthonioidea From China(Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones)

The bodies of pseudoscorpion are small sized, with high diversity. They belongs to Order Pseudoscorpiones, Class Arachnida, Phylum Arthropoda. The dissertation deals with a comprehensive taxonomic reseach of Chinese Chthonioidea, 33 species belonging to 7 genera, 4 families, are reported; among them, the family Lechytiidae Chamberlin, 1929 was recorded from China for the first time; the genus Pseudotyrannochthonius Beier, 1930 was newly recorded in China; 13 species were described as new to science; a new genus, Latusochthonius. gen. n., was established; the male Allochthonius(Urochthonius) brevitus Hu & Zhang, 2012 was firstly described. The content consists of two parts as follows: the general account and the systematic account.The general account introduces classification system of Pseudoscorpiones as well as taxonomic status of Chthonioidea in detail, morphological characters and brief biology of Chthonioidea are also presented in this part.In the systematic account, the descriptions and discussion of Chthonioidea were given; the species which distribute in China and deposited in the MHBU, were particularly described; however, the species which distribute in China but not examined the specimens were simple re-described by checking the original description. 20 species belonging to 3 genera in Chthoniidae, 11 species belonging to 3 genera in Pseudotyrannochthoniidae, 1 species belonging to 1 genus in Lechytiidae and 1 species belonging to 1 genus in Tridenchthoniidae, are presented in this dissertation. Among them, the family Lechytiidae and genus Pseudotyrannochthonius are firstly reported in China; the genus Latusochthonius is erected for the type species Latusochthonius jianfengling sp. n.; 13 species are new to science: Lagynochthonius brachydigitatus Zhang & Zhang, 2014, L. medog Zhang & Zhang, 2014, L. incanus sp. n., L. shengliensis sp. n., Tyrannochthonius niger sp. n., T. medog sp. n., T. serratus sp. n., T. xining sp. n., Latusochthonius jianfengling sp. n., Allochthonius(Allochthonius) jingyuanus Zhang & Zhang, 2014, A.(A.) fanjingshan sp. n., Lechytia yulongensis Zhang & Zhang, 2014, Pseudotyrannochthonius cheni sp. n., the male Allochthonius(Urochthonius) brevitus Hu & Zhang, 2012 was described for the first time. Keys to families and genera were also presented.All specimens are deposited in the Museum of Hebei University(MHBU), Baoding City, China, if not otherwise specified.