Reproductive behavior of Chavesincola inexpectabilis (Opiliones, Gonyleptidae) with description of a new and independently evolved case of paternal care in harvestmen

In this paper, we investigate the reproductive behavior of the gonyleptid Chavesincola inexpectabilis Soares & Scares 1946 (Heteropachylinae) and provide basic descriptive information about courtship, copulation, oviposition, and paternal care. Like most gonyleptids, males of C inexpectabilis have a strong armature oil the fourth pair of legs and use their spines and apophyses to Fight other males and to repel them from their nesting sites. The mating pair interacts briefly before copulation, but the male touches the female both during and after penetration while she oviposits. The oviposition behavior differs markedly from that of other Laniatores: females hold the eggs oil the chelicerae before depositing them oil the substrate. After oviposition, the eggs are left under the guard of the male to defend against attack from cannibalistic conspecifics. Mapping the available data oil reproductive biology of the Gonyleptidae on the phylogeny of the family, it is possible to infer that paternal care has evolved at least three times independently: once in the clade Progonyleptoidellinae + Caelopyginae, once in the Gonyleptinae, and once in the Heteropachylinae, which occupies a basal position within the group.