Charmus Karsch, 1879

Kovařík, František, Lowe, Graeme, Ranawana, Kithsiri B., Hoferek, David & Š, V. A., 2016, Scorpions of Sri Lanka (Scorpiones Buthidae, Chaerilidae, Scorpionidae) with description of four new species of the genera Charmus Karsch, 1879 and Reddyanus Vachon, 1972, stat n, Euscorpius 220, pp. 1-133 : 17-20

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.18590/euscorpius.2016.vol2016.iss220.1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7124480
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/B07187DF-A805-FF85-FE8E-FBDC9C79F981
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Charmus Karsch, 1879
status

Treatment

Genus Charmus Karsch, 1879 View in CoL

( Figs. 12 View Figures 12–15 , 41–43 View Figures 39–46 , 47–119 View Figures 47–53 View Figures 54–59 View Figures 60–63 View Figures 64–65 View Figures 66–67 View Figures 68–70 View Figures 71–73 View Figures 74–79 View Figures 80–84 View Figures 85–87 View Figures 88–91 View Figures 92–100 View Figures 101–106 View Figures 107–119 , 194 View Figures 193–200 , 423–426 View Figures 403–429 , 548, Tables 1– 2 View Table 1 View Table 2 )

Charmus Karsch, 1879: 104 View in CoL ; Kraepelin, 1899: 39; Pocock, 1900: 31–32; Kraepelin, 1913: 131; Vachon, 1982: 79, 81; Tikader & Bastawade, 1983: 140–152, figs. 382–416; Sissom, 1990: 101; Kovařík, 1998: 120; Lourenço, 2000: 295; Kovařík, Soleglad & Fet, 2007: 201; Kovařík, 2009: 31.

= Heterocharmus Pocock, 1892: 46–47 ,

type species by monotypy Heterocharmus cinctipes Pocock, 1892 (= Charmus laneus Karsch, 1879 ) (syn. by Kraepelin, 1899: 39; Pocock, 1900: 31).

TYPE SPECIES. Charmus laneus Karsch, 1879 View in CoL

DIAGNOSIS. Small buthids, adults 12 mm (male) – 23.5 mm (female). Sternum type 1, subpentagonal, roughly as wide as long, exhibiting horizontal compression. Pedipalps trichobothrial pattern Aα; femur trichobothrium d 2 located dorsally, patella d 3 dorsal of dorsomedian carina; chela with 3 Eb trichobothria on manus. Movable finger of pedipalp longer than manus. Pectines with or without fulcra. Dentate margin of pedipalp chela movable finger with distinct granules divided into 8–9 linear rows, apical rows of 4–6 granules, and 3 terminal granules. Cheliceral fixed finger armed with two denticles on ventral surface ( Fig. 67a View Figures 66–67 ). Tergites I –VI granular, with one clearly visible carina. Carapace granular without carinae, anterior edge with epistome present medially. Metasomal segments IV–V punctate without developed carinae. Telson vesicle punctate, without subaculear tooth. Pedipalps, metasoma and telson densely hirsute. Legs III and IV with well developed long tibial spurs, first and second tarsomeres with ventral setae.

NOTE. A remarkable feature of the metasoma and telson of Charmus laneus is the extremely dense pubescence ( Figs. 71–73 View Figures 71–73 ). All segments bear an abundance of fine setae of various lengths emerging from pits containing sockets or perforations in the thickened cuticle. These setae can be divided into at least two types: (1) straight or uniformly curved, non-fluorescent golden setae; and (2) terminally curved, brightly fluorescent, translucent setae with intense pinpoint fluorescence at the tip ( Figs. 6 8–70 View Figures 5–11 View Figures 12–15 View Figures 16–19 View Figures 20–23 View Figures 24–29 View Figures 30–33 View Figures 34–38 View Figures 39–46 View Figures 47–53 View Figures 54–59 View Figures 60–63 View Figures 64–65 View Figures 66–67 View Figures 68–70 ). Comparing these setae to similar kinds of setae found in other scorpions, we suggest that type 1 setae may be mechanoreceptive and tactile, and type 2 setae may be chemoreceptive in function. Putative chemotactic microsetae in other scorpions are typically also fluorescent and exhibit a similar, apically curved shape, but are usually quite short compared to the long fluorescent setae seen here. A similar densely hirsute metasoma is also present in C. saradieli sp. n. and was also described in the other two known members of the genus, C. indicus Hirst , 1 915 and C. singhagadensis Tikader et Bastawade, 1983 (Sreenivasa Reddy, 1966: 247–256; Tikader & Bastawade, 1983: 140–152). A similar, probably homologous development of dense setation is also observed in the closely related genus Thaicharmus ( Kovařík, 1995, 2013; Mirza et. al., 2016). This massive concentration of multimodal sensory input indicates that Charmus is another example of the evolution of the metasoma into a specialized sensory organ. As noted previously, this has apparently occurred independently in several different buthid lineages, e.g. Butheoloides Hirst, 1925 ; Isometroides Keyserling, 1885 ; Karasbergia Hewitt, 1914 ; Microbuthus Kraepelin, 1898 ; Orthochirus Karsch, 1892 ; etc. (E. Fet et al., 2003; Lourenço, 2001, 2003; Lowe, 2010; Prendini, 2004).