Babycurus Karsch, 1886

Kovařík, František, Lowe, Graeme & Šťáhlavský, František, 2018, Review of the genus Babycurus Karsch, 1886 (Arachnida, Scorpiones, Buthidae), with descriptions of Barbaracurus gen. n. and two new species from Oman and Yemen, Euscorpius 267, pp. 1-41 : 2

Babycurus Karsch, 1886

( Figures 11–23 , 29–31, 37–39 , 255–260 , 265)

Babycurus Karsch, 1886: 77–79 , figs. 1–2; Kraepelin, 1895: 88–89 (in part); Pocock, 1896: 427–431; Pocock, 1899: 835; Kraepelin, 1899: 61–64; Kraepelin, 1913: 179–183 (in part); Sissom, 1990: 101; Fet & Lowe, 2000: 76–80 (in part); Kovařík, 2000: 236–263, figs. 1–9, 11–12, 14–20, 23–25, 27–37, 39–40, tables 1–3 (in part); Prendini, 2004: 238– 250, figs. 1–10; Kovařík, 2009: 30 (in part); Loria & Prendini, 2014: 19, 25; Loria & Prendini, 2018: 184.

Buthus (Rhoptrurus) (in part): Pocock, 1890: 122.

Rhoptrurus: Kraepelin, 1891: 238–241 (in part); Kraepelin, 1898: 3 (in part) (syn. by Kraepelin, 1899: 61).

TYPE SPECIES. Babycurus buettneri Karsch, 1886 .

DIAGNOSIS. Medium to large buthids, adults 30–100 mm. Carapace granular, lacking distinct carinae, flat, subrectangular with concave anterior margin. Median eyes on low ocular tubercle in anterior half of carapace; usually with 4, or sometimes 5 pairs of lateral eyes (3 major ocelli, 1–2 minor ocelli). Anterior, central and posterior median furrows distinct, connected by median groove running over ocular tubercle. Sternum type 1, triangular in shape. Tergites I–VI granular, with single median carina which may be obsolete on I–II, tergite VII with 5 carinae. Metasoma elongate, segment I with 10 carinae, II–IV with 8 carinae, lacking lateral median carina. Metasoma V convex, sometimes dilated, carinae present or obsolete. Telson ellipsoidal or pyriform in shape, with distinct subaculear tooth. Pectines with fulcra. Hemispermatophore capsule with 2-lobed sperm hemiduct, basal lobe atrophied to a short, weak carina. Chelicerae with typical buthid dentition: movable finger dorsal margin with large subdistal and medial denticles and two smaller basal denticles, ventral margin with two large denticles, dorsal distal tine slightly shorter than ventral counterpart; fixed finger with subdistal denticle, and median and basal denticles formed as a bicusp, ventral surface armed with two small denticles. Pedipalps orthobothriotaxic, type Aβ, femur trichobothrium d 2 internal, patella d 3 external to dorsomedian carina, chela db in distal half of fixed finger. Chela manus smooth, with carinae reduced or obsolete, dentate margins of chela movable finger armed with 6–9 imbricated rows of denticulate granules, successive rows overlapping by at least 2 granules, each row terminated proximally by an enlarged granule, in most cases flanked by two enlarged external accessory granules at oblique angle (single external accessory granule only in B. gigas ), and single internal accessory granule displaced distally. Most proximal granule row with one or (rarely) two isolated external accessory granules midway along its length, no internal accessory granules. Pedipalp chelae sexually dimorphic, males with manus dilated and fingers proximally undulate on dentate margins, denticles of proximal granule rows bicuspid. Tibial spurs absent on leg III, present on leg IV, tibia and tarsus III– IV without bristle combs, ventral surfaces of tarsi equipped with two rows of setae, ungues stout.

SUBORDINATE TAXA. Babycurus ansorgei Hirst, 1911 ( Angola, Congo), B. buettneri Karsch, 1886 (West Africa), B. centrurimorphus Karsch, 1886 ( Congo, Tanzania,? Mozambique, Rwanda), B. dunlopi Kovařík et al., 2015 ( Ethiopia) , B. gigas Kraepelin, 1896 ( Tanzania) , B. jacksoni ( Pocock, 1890) ( Kenya, Tanzania), B. kirki ( Pocock, 1890) (West Africa), B. melanicus Kovařík, 2000 ( Congo) , B. multisubaculeatus Kovařík, 2000 ( Somalia) , B. pictus Pocock, 1896 ( Kenya, Tanzania), B. solegladi Lourenço, 2005 ( Sudan) , B. taramassoi Borelli, 1919 ( Somalia) , and B. wituensis Kraepelin, 1913 ( Kenya) .

CYTOGENETICS. The karyotype analyses of three species Babycurus jacksoni (2n=16) ( Figs. 255, 256 ), B. buettneri (2n=28) ( Figs. 257, 258 ) and B. gigas (2n=30) ( Figs. 259, 260 ) show considerable interspecific variability of the chromosome diploid numbers within this genus. The chromosomes have holocentric organization which is typical feature of the family Buthidae ( Schneider et al., 2009a) . Males display achiasmatic meisois.which is characteristic to the whole order Scorpiones ( Schneider et al., 2009b) .

Figures

Figures 1–23: Pedipalp movable finger, comparison of Barbaracurus gen. n. (1–10) and Babycurus (11–23) species. Figures 1–4: Barbaracurus gen. n., species with 6 non-imbricated almost linear rows of granules. Figure 1. B. ugartei comb. n., female holotype. Figure 2. B. sofomarensis comb. n., male paratype. Figure 3. B. somalicus comb. n., female from Somaliland, locality 17SR. Figure 4. B. subpunctatus comb. n., female from Ethiopia, locality 14EI. Figures 5–10: Barbaracurus gen. n., species with 7 non-imbricated almost linear rows of granules. Figure 5. B. exquisitus comb. n., male holotype. Figures 6–7, 10. B. zambonellii comb. n., female (6 and 10) and male (7) from Eritrea, locality 15EH. Figure 8. B. winklerorum sp. n., female paratype. Figure 9. B. yemenensis sp. n., female holotype. Figures 12–14: Babycurus, species with 6 imbricated rows of movable fingers. Figure 12. B. ansorgei, female, Congo, Bukama env., FKCP. Figure 13. B. centrurimorphus, female lectotype. Figure 14. B. pictus, female, Congo, Sampwe env., FKCP. Figures 11, 15–21: Babycurus, species with 7–8 imbricated rows of movable fingers. Figure 15. B. buettneri, female, MCSN. Figure 11, 16. B. dunlopi, male paratype. Figure 17. B. jacksoni, male, Tanzania, FKCP, No. 1189. Figure 18. B. kirki, female, Cote d’Ivoire, Comoe, FKCP. Figure 19. Babycurus melanicus, female holotype. Figure 20. B. taramassoi, female, Somalia, Belet Amin, MCSN. Figure 21. Babycurus wituensis, female lectotype. Figures 22–23: Babycurus, species with 9 imbricated rows of movable fingers. Figure 22. B. gigas, female lectotype. Figure 23. B. multisubaculeatus, female holotype. Numbers in red indicate number of granule rows in series of fingers on the left of each number (red arrows).

Figures 24–39: Hemispermatophore capsules of Barbaracurus gen. n. and Babycurus species, convex and anterior views. In each figure. left image is convex view with capsule compressed to show shape of lobes, right image anterior view to show profile of basal lobe. Figures 24–31. Color images. Figures 24–28: Barbaracurus gen. n. Figure 24. B. winklerorum sp. n., holotype. Figure 25. B. exquisitus comb. n., Oman, Jabal Akhdar hotel, 23º04'N 57º38'E. Figure 26. B. sofomarensis comb. n., paratype from the type locality. Figure 27. B. somalicus comb. n., Somaliland, Borama, locality 17SR. Figure 28. B. zambonellii comb. n., Eritrea, Filfil, locality 15EH. Figures 29–31: Babycurus. Figure 29: B. jacksoni, Tanzania. Figure 30: B. gigas, Tanzania, Usambara Mts. Figure 31: B. buettneri, Cameroon, Mamba vill., 04°07.311'N 10°11.615'E. Scale bars: 200 µm. Small numbered labels indicate specimen numbers (see lists of Material Examined). Figures 32–39. Gray scale images with basal lobes outlined in red. Figures 32–36: Barbaracurus gen. n.: B. winklerorum sp. n. (32), B. exquisitus comb. n. (33), B. sofomarensis comb. n. (34), B. somalicus comb. n. (35) and B. zambonellii comb. n. (36). Figures 37–39: Babycurus: B. jacksoni (37), B. gigas (38) and B. buettneri (39). Solid red curves indicate either the distal margin of a scoop-like basal lobe (32, 34) or a well developed carina (35–37, 39). Dashed red curves indicate either the line of attachment of a scoop-like basal lobe (32, 34) or a weakly developed carina (35–36, 38).

Figures 255–264: Male postpachytene (255, 257, 261, 263), mitotic metaphase (259), and ideograms (256, 258, 260, 262, 264) (y axis - % of the diploid chromosome length) of Babycurus (255–260) and Barbaracurus gen. n. (261–264) species. Babycurus jacksoni (1189), Tanzania (2n=16) (255, 256), B. buettneri (1190) from Cameroon, Mamba vill., 04°07.311'N 10°11.615'E (2n=28) (257, 258) and B. gigas (914) from Tanzania (2n=30) (259, 260); Barbaracurus zambonelli comb. n. (876) from Eritrea, locality 15EH (2n=26) (261, 262) and B. somalicus comb. n. (1332), Somaliland, locality 17SR (2n=36) (263, 264). Scale bar: 5 µm (255, 257, 259, 261, 263).