Microbianor Logunov 2000

Microbianor Logunov, 2000

This is a small, recently described genus with five valid species (Table 1). Originally, the genus was considered endemic to the Seychelles (Logunov 2000), but after the discovery of M. saaristoi in Réunion (Ledoux 2007) it became clear that the genus was more widespread. The findings of two new Microbianor species from Madagascar support this conclusion. It is interesting to note that after the original description of Microbianor (Logunov 2000) all new discoveries of its species have been made in the islands of the Indian Ocean rather than continental Africa. Furthermore, both new Malagasy species came from the NE shore of Madagascar. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that the distribution of Microbianor may reflect the Asian faunal affinities of Madagascar, which have been reported for a number of animal groups including scorpions and spiders (e.g., Legendre 1972; Lourenço 2003; Griswold 2003). If so, more new species of Microbianor might also be found in Sri Lanka and India.