Extreme ocularium reduction in Gonyleptidae: A new genus of Tricommatinae from the northeastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Opiliones: Laniatores)

Valentinus gen. nov. (Gonyleptidae: Tricommatinae) is described based on two new species from the Atlantic Forest of Bahia, Brazil. The genus is characterized by an extremely flattened ocularium with eyes set far apart—a condition rarely found in Gonyleptidae—along with a depressed dorsal scutum, distinctive armature on scutal areas and free tergites, pincer-forming apophyses on coxa and trochanter IV, and, as far as known, a ventral plate entirely devoid of microsetae. Tricommatinae was historically treated as a broad, heterogeneous subfamily comprising 66 genera and over 100 species from as far afield as Eurasia, the Amazon, and the Andes. Recent systematic revisions have restricted the group to a handful of genera endemic to eastern Brazil. The discovery of Valentinus adds to this redefined lineage and expands its known morphological diversity, documenting an unusually flattened ocularium not previously recorded in Tricommatinae..