Taracus
{{Short description|Genus of harvestmen/daddy longlegs}}
{{Taxobox
| regnum = Animalia
|image=Taracus sp..jpg
| image_caption =
| phylum = Arthropoda
| classis = Arachnida
| subclassis = Dromopoda
| ordo = Opiliones
| familia = Taracidae
| genus = Taracus
| genus_authority =
}}
Taracus is a genus of harvestman,{{Cite web|title=Sabacon|url=https://wcolite.com|access-date=2023-12-08|website= Kury, A. et al. (2023). WCO-Lite: World Catalogue of Opiliones}}{{cite web|title=Taracus|url=https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/172237-Taracus|website=iNaturalist|access-date=2023-12-08|language=en}} or Opiliones, typically found living in limestone and lava caves in the United States.{{cite journal|last1=Shear|first1=William A.|last2=Warfel|first2=Joseph G.|title=The harvestman genus Taracus Simon 1879, and the new genus Oskoron (Opiliones: Ischyropsalidoidea: Taracidea)|journal=Zootaxa|ISSN=1175-5326|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4180.1.1|volume=4180|number=1:2|url=https://www.biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4180.1.1|date=2016-11-02}} They grow to a size of {{convert|2.0|-|5.5|mm|2|abbr=on}}.{{cite book |editor=Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha, Glauco Machado & Gonzalo Giribet |year=2007 |title=Harvestmen: the Biology of Opiliones |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-02343-7 |page=154 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pbdpSKHkKDIC&pg=PA154}}
Taxonomy
Taracus contains the following species, per World Catalog of Opiliones. Of the 14 described species (as of 2023), almost all are found in the United States.
- Taracus aspenae Shear, 2018 (USA: Oregon)
- Taracus audisioae Shear, 2016 (USA: California)
- Taracus birsteini Ljovuschkin, 1971 (Russia: Primorsky Krai)
- Taracus carmanah Shear, 2016 (Canada: British Columbia)
- Taracus fluvipileus Shear, 2016 (USA: California)
- Taracus gertschi Goodnight & Goodnight, 1942 (USA: Idaho, Oregon, etc; Canada: Alberta, British Columbia)
- Taracus marchingtoni Shear & Warfel, 2016 (USA: Oregon)
- Taracus packardi Simon, 1879 (USA: Colorado, New Mexico)
- Taracus pallipes Banks, 1894 (USA: Washington, Oregon, California)
- Taracus silvestrii Roewer, 1930 (USA: Oregon)
- Taracus spesavius Shear, 2016 (USA: Nevada)
- Taracus taylori Shear, 2016 (USA: Nevada)
- Taracus timpanogos Shear, 2016 (USA: Utah)
- Taracus ubicki Shear, 2016 (USA: California)
Elsewhere (as of 2023):
For Taracus spinosus Banks, 1894 and its synonym Taracus malkini Goodnight & Goodnight, 1945 see Oskoron spinosus (Banks, 1894). For Taracus nigripes Goodnight & Goodnight, 1943 see as synonym of Taracus packardi Simon, 1879.