Indohya typhlops Harvey, 1993

Harvey, Mark S., Burger, Mieke A. A., Abrams, Kym M., Finston, Terrie L., Huey, Joel A. & Perina, Giulia, 2023, The systematics of the pseudoscorpion genus Indohya (Pseudoscorpiones: Hyidae) in Australia, Zootaxa 5342 (1), pp. 1-119 : 115

Indohya typhlops Harvey, 1993

( Figs. 1–3 , 6A )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:CB61F4D1-69FD-46FF-90CD-99A6F56770AA

Indohya typhlops Harvey 1993: 27 , figs. 3, 81–88; Harvey and Volschenk 2007: 401–402, figs. 5–9, 15.

Material examined. Holotype female. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: 25.3 km WSW. of Mt Blythe on Charnley River ( CALM site 25/2), 16°22′35″S, 125°12′35″E, rainforest litter, January 1989, CALM staff ( WAM T23651 , formerly 91/1400).

Other material. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: 4 Ô, 4 ♀, Charnley River-Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary , 16°22′20”S, 125°12′32”E, 27 July 2022, under rock, vine thicket, M.S. Harvey, J.D. Wilson, L. Kirkendale ( WAM T158276 , T158277 , T158592 , T158595 , T158598 ) .

Diagnosis. Indohya typhlops has 16 setae on the carapace setae and lacks eyes, thus resembling I. currani , I. gollum and I. napierensis . It differs from I. gollum and I. napierensis in being smaller [e.g. chela (with pedicel) 0.77 (♀) mm vs. greater than 1.8 mm in I. gollum and I. napierensis ], and from I. currani by its broader chela [chela (with pedicel) 3.21 (♀) × longer than broad vs. 3.98 (♀) × longer than broad in I. currani ] and by having more teeth on the fixed chelal finger [41 teeth (♀), vs. 46 teeth (♀).

It also differs from all other Indohya species for which sequence data are available by three synapomorphies in COI mtDNA: at base 172 there is a substitution to G; at base 286 there is a substitution to T; and at base 492 there is a substitution to A. The two sequenced specimens differ from all other sequenced specimens of Indohya by 18.8–26.4% (Table 2).

Description (adult). See Harvey (1993).

Distribution and remarks. Indohya typhlops has been recorded from a single rainforest site on the Charnley River ( Fig. 6A ). The site is situated within the Northern Kimberley bioregion.

Conservation assessment. Although Indohya typhlops has only been collected at a single location, there is no reason to believe that it is not more widely distributed in the region. The species does not meet the status of threatened using the criteria developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (2012).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Maximum likelihood phylogeny of Hyidae and other neobisioids, based on alignment of concatenated COI, 18S and 28S. Ultrafast bootstrap values are presented for nodes greater than 80%.

FIGURE 2. Maximum likelihood phylogeny of Australian Indohya, using COI, 18S and 28S concatenated dataset. Bootstrap values are presented for all nodes. The genes amplified for each specimen are depicted with black squares in the gene matrix.

FIGURE 3. Maximum likelihood phylogeny of Australian Indohya, using COI. Bootstrap values are presented for all nodes.

FIGURE 6. Maps of north-western Australia depicting recorded distributions of the three epigean species of Indohya from the Kimberley:A, epigean species; B, troglobitic species.