Hemiscorpius lipsae, Kovařík & Lowe, 2022

Kovařík, František & Lowe, Graeme, 2022, Scorpions of the Horn of Africa (Arachnida Scorpiones) Part XXVIII Scorpions of Djibouti, Euscorpius 357, pp. 1-31 : 22-27

Family Hemiscorpiidae Pocock, 1893 Hemiscorpius lipsae sp. n.

( Figs. 89–113 , Table 1) http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:DDB10ED0-

C16F-4C5E-BFB3-066E611BC94E

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE REPOSITORY. Djibouti, Arta Province, Goubet , 11.5632°N 42.5862°E , FKCP.

TYPE MATERIAL ( FKCP). Djibouti, Arta Province, Goubet , 11.5632°N 42.5862°E, 14. II.2014 ( Fig. 112 ), 1♀ (holotype, No. 8769), 11.43°N 42.6°E, 500 m a. s. l., 1.XI.2013, 1♂ juv.(paratype, No. 8113), leg. J. Lips; Arta Province, Arta plage, 11.5857°N 42.8286°E, 26. II.2014, 1♂ juv. (paratype, No. 9622), leg. J. Lips; Tadjourah Province, Dalay-Af, 11.8360°N 43.0762°E, 17.I.2022 , 1♀ juv. (paratype, No. 25617), leg. J. Lips.

ETYMOLOGY. Named after Josiane Lips ( France) who together with her husband Benard Lips lived in Djibouti (2010-2014), were interested in the fauna of Djibouti and collected most of the specimens cited in this paper, including all types of the new species. Benard Lips is also author of the photo of the type locality ( Fig. 112 ).

DIAGNOSIS (FEMALE). Total length 36 mm. Color reddish to yellowish brown. Sternite VII finely granulate, with two smooth carinae. All metasomal segments longer than wide; metasoma IV L/D 1.90. Telson elongate, ventral profile hemielliptic, aculeus robust, markedly shorter than vesicle. Pedipalp segments relatively short, robust; patella without external or ventromedian carinae; chela relatively short with broad manus, chela L/W 2.53 (♀); manus with granulate ventroexternal (V3) carina; distal movable finger with dual linear rows of denticles. Orthobothriotaxic type C; pedipalp patella with 13 external, 3 ventral trichobothria, esb 1 proximal to esb 2, em 1 distal to em 2, V 3 - V 2 separation more than two times V 1 - V 2 separation; chela manus with V 2 external to V 1. Genital opercula strongly cordate. Pectinal tooth count, 10 (♀). Leg segments relatively short, robust; formula of ventral macrosetae on telotarsi: 3/3-4: 4/5: 5/5: 5/5.

DESCRIPTION. Adult female total length 36 mm long, adult male unknown. Habitus as shown in Figs. 1–2 . Measurements are in Table 1.

Coloration ( Figs. 89–90 ). Base color uniformly reddish to yellowish brown. Pedipalp fingers and anterior margin of carapace black. Chelicerae pale yellow with reddish denticles.

Pedipalps ( Figs. 100–109 ). Pedipalps relatively short and robust, finely granulate. Femur with 4 granulate carinae; ventroexternal carina incomplete. Patella with 5 coarsely granulate carinae. Chela with 4–5 carinae; interomedian carina (I) weak and incomplete. Dentate margin of movable finger armed with two parallel rows of denticles extending entire length of finger, including OD and ID that appear to indicate six or seven subrows. Dentate margin of fixed finger armed with one or two parallel rows of denticles with OD and ID that appear to indicate six subrows. Orthobothriotaxic type C ( Figs. 76–82 ); patella with 13 external, 3 ventral trichobothria. Metasoma and telson ( Figs. 97–99 , 110 ). Metasoma and telson sparsely hirsute, smooth to finely granulate. Metasoma I–IV with a total of 7 finely granulate carinae with spiniform granules. Metasoma V with 5 carinae, lateral carinae replaced by irregular row of minute granules. Telson elongate, with aculeus shorter than vesicle.

Carapace and mesosoma ( Figs. 95–96 ). Carapace longer than wide, lacking carinae, with deep sagittal furrow and forked, V-shaped furrow extending on each side posteriorly. Anteromedial margin of carapace strongly concave with deep median emargination. A pair of median eyes and 3 pairs of lateral eyes present. Carapace and mesosoma finely covered with variable-sized granules, surfaces ranging from minutely shagreened to more coarsely granulate. Tergites I–II lacking carinae, tergites III–VI with a sagittal carina. Tergite VII with 4 incomplete carinae. Sternites I–VI lacking carinae, smooth, except for sternite VII which is finely granulate with 2 smooth carinae. Pectinal tooth count, 10 (♀). Pectinal marginal tips extending to proximal 4/5 of sternite III in female. Pectines with 3 marginal lamellae, 6–7 middle lamellae. Marginal lamellae bearing several white setae, middle lamellae and each fulcrum bearing 1–3 white setae. Genital opercula of female together forming a strongly cordate profile with prominent posterior vertex.

Legs ( Figs. 91–94 ). All legs finely granulated on dorsal surfaces. Tarsomeres hirsute with microsetae and macrosetae, including ventral microsetae. Leg I–III basitarsi with 4-6/ 4-6 spiniform macrosetae. Telotarsi with two axial series of ventral spiniform macrosetae, arranged according to formula: 3/3-4: 4/5: 5/5: 5/5.

VARIATION. Juvenile female has pectinal tooth count 10 (10:10) but juvenile males have 11–13 (11:12, 13:13) pectine tooth.

AFFINITIES. The described features distinguish H. lipsae sp. n. from all other known species of the genus. The genital opercula together form a strongly cordate profile with a prominent posterior vertex ( Fig. 96 ), a shape known in only one other member of the genus, H. tellinii Borelli, 1904 from Eritrea (Kovařík & Mazuch, 2011: 4, fig. 18). Other African species of Hemiscorpius ( H. egyptiensis Lourenço, 2011 from Egypt; H. novaki Kovařík & Mazuch, 2011 from Somaliland; and H. somalicus Lourenço, 2011 from Somalia) have genital opercula with oval profiles (Kovařík & Mazuch, 2011: 4, figs. 21–22). H. tellinii is known only from the female holotype, which can be distinguished from the female holotype of H. lipsae sp. n. by having a narrower metasoma and pedipalp chela: metasoma IV L/D 2.43 ( H. tellinii ; Kovařík & Mazuch, 2011: 4, fig. 17), vs, 1.90 ( H. lipsae sp. n.; fig. 73); pedipalp chela L/W 2.97 ( H. tellinii ; Fig. 111 ) vs. 2.53 ( H. lipsae sp. n.; Fig. 100 ). On the external pedipalp patella, trichobothrium esb 1 is distal to esb 2 in H. tellinii (vs. proximal in H. lipsae sp. n., H. somalicus and H. novaki ).

DISTRIBUTION. Djibouti ( Fig. 113 ).

Figures

Figure 112. Hemiscorpius lipsae sp. n., type locality.

Figure 113. Confirmed geographic distribution of scorpions in Djibouti. Maps created in Google Maps (2022).

Figures 89–94. Hemiscorpius lipsae sp. n. female holotype. Figures 89–90. Dorsal (89) and ventral (90) views. Figures 91–94. Left legs I–IV, retrolateral aspect. Scale bar: 10 mm (89–90).

Figures 95–99. Hemiscorpius lipsae sp. n. female holotype, carapace and tergites I–III (95), sternopectinal region and sternites III–IV (96), metasoma and telson, lateral (97), dorsal (98), and ventral (99) views. Scale bar: 10 mm (73–75).

Figures 100–111: Figures 100–110: Hemiscorpius lipsae sp. n. female holotype, pedipalp (100–109) and telson lateral (110). Figures 100– 109. Chela, dorsal (100), external (101), and ventral (102) views. Patella, dorsal (103), external (104) and ventral (105) views. Femur and trochanter, dorsal (106), and ventral (107) views. Movable (108) and fixed (109) fingers dentation. The trichobothrial pattern indicated in Figures 100–106 by white circles. Figure 111. Hemiscorpius tellini, female holotype, pedipalp chela dorsal.

Figures 1–4: Buthus awashensis, Djibouti,Arta Province, Arta, 11.5286°N 42.8508°E, 690 m a. s. l. Figures 1–2. Male, dorsal (1) and ventral (2) views. Figures 3–4. Female, dorsal (3) and ventral (4) views. Scale bar: 10 mm.

Figures 73–76: Neobuthus ferrugineus, Djibouti, Barra Yer, 11.31°N 42.71°E, 585 m a. s. l. Figures 73–74. Male, dorsal (73) and ventral (74) views. Figures 75–76. Female, dorsal (75) and ventral (76) views. Scale bar: 10 mm.

Figures 77–78. Orthochirus afar, male from Djibouti, Tadjourah Province, Ditillou, 11.7811°N 42.6934°E, 665 m a. s. l. in dorsal (77) and ventral (78) views. Scale bar: 10 mm.

Figures 79–82: Morphometric comparisons of Orthochirus species. Figures. 79–80. Rank ordered horizontal bar plots of adult male carapace lengths of 42 species (79), and adult male total lengths of 40 species (= anterior margin of carapace to tip of aculeus of extended telson) (80). Figure 81. Bivariate scatter plot of adult male total length vs. adult male carapace length for 39 species. Dark brown bars and symbols highlight the species O. afar; orange bars and symbols highlight the species chosen by Lourenço & Ythier (2021: 345) to represent “moderate-size Orthochirus species”. Figure 82. Horizontal bar plot of mean punctae diameters on ventral and lateral surfaces of metasoma IV, expressed as percentage of metasoma IV length, in six females of Orthochirus. Dark brown bars: specimens assigned to the species O. afar Kovařík & Lowe, 2016 (or a closely similar species); green bars: specimens assigned to the species O. olivaceus (Karsch, 1881). The dark female from Nubia (leg. Brignoli, 1975) is statistically grouped with O. afar. In all figures, plotted values are either single measurements or means, and error bars are standard deviations (SD).