After tumultuous revisions to the family-level systematics of Laniatores (the armored harvestmen), the basally branching family Phalangodidae presently bears a disjunct and irregular distribution, attributed to the fragmentation of Pangea. One of the curious lineages assigned to Phalangodidae is the monotypic Israeli genus Haasus, the only Laniatores species that occurs in Israel, and whose presence in the Levant has been inferred to result from biogeographic connectivity with Eurasia. Recent surveys of Israeli caves have also yielded a new troglobitic morphospecies of Haasus. Here, we describe this new species as Haasus naasane sp. nov. So as to test the biogeographic affinity of Haasus, we sequenced DNA from both species and RNA from Haasus naasane sp. nov., to assess their phylogenetic placement. Our results showed that the new species is clearly closely related to Haasus judaeus, but Haasus itself is unambiguously nested within the largely Afrotropical family Pyramidopidae. In addition, the Japanese ‘phalangodid’ Proscotolemon sauteri was recovered as nested within the Southeast Asian family Petrobunidae. Phylogenomic placement of Haasus naasane sp. nov. in a 1550-locus matrix indicates that Pyramidopidae has an unstable position in the tree of Laniatores, with alternative partitioning of the matrix recovering high nodal support for mutually exclusive tree topologies. Exploration of phylogenetic signal showed the cause of this instability to be a considerable conflict between partitions, suggesting that the basal phylogeny of Laniatores may not yet be stable to addition of taxa. We transfer Haasus to Pyramidopidae (new familial assignment). Additionally, we transfer Proscotolemon to the family Petrobunidae (new familial assignment). Future studies on basal Laniatores phylogeny should emphasise the investigation of small-bodied and obscure groups that superficially resemble Phalangodidae.

The mirid subfamily Orthotylinae is hyperdiverse in Australia but poorly described; this work is part of a series of papers on the documentation of this fauna. Two new species of the Australian endemic plant bug genus Myrtlemiris Cheng, Mututantri & Cassis (Heteroptera: Miridae: Orthotylinae: Orthotylini) are described as new to science: Myrtlemiris kararensis, sp. nov., and M. lochada, sp. nov. The new Australian genus and species Neomyrtlemiris picta gen. nov. et sp. nov. are also described. Myrtlemiris is analysed phylogenetically using 32 morphology-based characters, as well as molecular alignments (COI, 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA and 28S rRNA; including 1958 base pairs) with the genus found to be monophyletic based on molecular, morphological and combined analyses. Neomyrtlemiris is the sister to Myrtlemiris. Host plant association analysis demonstrated constraints to the myrtaceous tribe Chamelaucieae, with Malleostemon and Calytrix recovered as ancestral host plants. Ancestral state reconstructions were carried out on male genitalic structures, demonstrating the phylogenetic value of endosomal spicules. This work demonstrates that the Orthotylinae are a rich component of Australia’s biodiversity, particularly in the south-west of Western Australia.

The higher-level systematics of featherwing beetles (Coleoptera: Ptiliidae), the smallest non-parasitic insects and abundant in the world’s forests, is poorly known. Based on larval morphology, the systematic relationships and internal classification are revised and analysed from a comparative, evolutionary and phylogenetic perspective. We introduce 37 morphological characters of all instars and of strong phylogenetic signal in a first-ever maximum parsimony phylogenetic family analysis, providing support for the erection of Nossidiinae, subfam. nov., keeping Cephaloplectinae within Ptiliidae and sinking Acrotrichini as a tribe into a revised subfamily Ptiliinae. Full homology of characters between Ptiliidae and its sister taxon Hydraenidae is demonstrated and miniaturisation effects on the larval exoskeleton reviewed. Keeping generalised mouthparts adapted to sapro-mycophagy through geological time made three evolutionarily independent invasion events of marine littorals possible in Ptiliidae. Keys to larval instars, subfamilies, tribes and species are presented for the first time, supplemented by model descriptions of multiple hierarchical levels (species, genus, tribe, subfamily, family), introducing many phylogenetically informative characters. The conservative larval morphology/chaetotaxy proves particularly useful for analysis on the family-group taxon level, as exemplified by caudal urogomphi, a key character in ptiliid systematics. The revised nomenclature and classification improves systematic predictability and better reflects natural relationships within Ptiliidae.