| Summary: | Figure 1. Distributions of the Rhiscosomididae, Shear (1972) incorporated Rhiscosomididae Rhiscosomides, and R. mineri along the Pacific Coast of and its lone genus, Rhiscosomides Silvestri, 1909, northwestern North America. AK, Alaska; BC, British into his reclassification of New World Columbia; OR, Oregon; QCI, Queen Charlotte Islands; chordeumatidans, described a new species from the VI, Vancouver Island; WA, Washington; YT, Yukon central California coast, and depicted the few Territory. known occurrences on a map of the "lower 48" US states. The next year, he provided synoptic accounts of the four established species, described three new species, and mapped occurrences in coastal Oregon (Shear 1973). The familial distribution was characterized as the "Pacific coast region of the United States from the Monterey Peninsula north to the Columbia River," and the northernmost congener, Rhiscosomides mineri Silvestri, 1909, occupied the northern one-third of coastal Oregon, from near Portland to Linn County (Co.) east of Corvallis. Despite the absence of records, Kevan (1983) and Kevan and Scudder (1989) reported the family from Washington state and considered it a potential inhabitant of BC. Speculating that the species was R. mineri, Shelley (1990) recorded the family and genus from west of Sooke on southern Vancouver Island, thereby establishing occurrences north of the Columbia River and in both BC and Canada. Hoffman (1999) summarized known records but missed the record from BC. Rhiscosomidids were discovered in both southern Alaska and northern BC in 2007, and a sample in the FSCA confirms occurrence in Washington. We now identify the species as R. mineri and report two localities from southern coastal BC based on samples in the NCSM and CNIC. The Oregon samples of R. mineri reported by Shear (1973) were obtained from berlesates of litter, grass, and decaying wood, and from "mixed conifer and deciduous duff." Those from northern BC were found in temperate rain forests in association with decaying logs under ...
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