Two New Troglobitic Species of Giupponia Pérez-González & Kury, 2002 (Opiliones: Gonyleptoidea) from Caves of Bahia, Northeastern Brazil

Cave-dwelling harvestmen (Opiliones: Laniatores: Gonyleptoidea) include trogloxenes, troglophiles and troglobites, frequently represented as monotypic genera, likely reflecting taxonomic practice rather than true diversity. Giupponia Pérez-González & Kury, 2002 is one such case: it was erected for the blind troglobite G. chagasi from limestone caves in Serra do Ramalho, southwestern Bahia, Brazil, and has remained monotypic for more than two decades. Here, we describe two additional troglobitic species from caves in the same karst area, thereby expanding the genus and providing an updated diagnosis and an identification key for males. The new species share core troglomorphic traits with G. chagasi (complete eye loss and depigmentation) and a distinctive suite of external and genital characters that support their placement in Giupponia, including a theta-type dorsal scutum with wide ridged grooves, a prominent preocular mound with paired spiniform armature, an enlarged ocularial apophysis, and a characteristic penial configuration with a pyriform ventral plate, a parabolic distal cleft and a robust stylus bearing a dorsal projection, with the glans lacking dorsal/ventral processes. We further discuss the morphological evidence bearing on the suprageneric placement of Giupponia within Gonyleptoidea Sundevall, 1833, highlighting affinities with lineages traditionally treated in Pachylinae and possible relationships with Ampycidae Kury, 2003 or Tricommatinae Roewer, 1912. These findings underscore the hidden diversity of the Serra do Ramalho subterranean fauna and the need for integrative phylogenetic analyses to resolve the evolutionary origin of extreme troglomorphisms in Brazilian gonyleptids.