Verrucachernes indicus ( Beier, 1974 ) Romero-Ortiz & Harvey, 2019

Romero-Ortiz, Catalina & Harvey, Mark S., 2019, The pseudoscorpion genus Verrucachernes (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae) in the Indian region, Zootaxa 4568 (2), pp. 337-346 : 339-342

Verrucachernes indicus ( Beier, 1974) , comb. nov.

(Figs. 1–10)

Pselaphochernes indicus Beier 1974: 1011 –1012, fig. 7. Not Pselaphochernes indicus Beier : Schawaller 1991: 786, fig. 1 (misidentification; actually F. oca Chamberlin, 1947 ); Schawaller 1994: 754 –755, figs 71–72 (misidentification; actually F. oca Chamberlin, 1947 ).

Type material: INDIA: Tamil Nadu: holotype male, 6 km E. of Coonoor, Nilgiri [11°21'N, 76°51'E], 1,600 m, “Fôret près d’une riviere”, 22 November 1972, C. Bésuchet, I. Löbl, collection number 42/77 ( MHNG) . Paratypes: allotype female, collected with holotype ( MHNG). 5 males, 14 females, collected with holotype ( MHNG); 1 male, 1 female, Coonoor [11°21’N, 76°48’E], 1,600 m, “Fôret dessous ville”, 22 November 1972, C. Besuchet, I. Löbl, collection number 43/83 ( MHNG) .

Diagnosis: Verrucachernes indicus differs from other species of the genus as follows: from V. oca by the coarsely granulate chela, which is smooth in V. oca ; from V. sublaevis and V. montigenus in its small size, e.g. the pedipalpal femur of these two species exceeds 0.50 mm, whereas it reaches a maximum of 0.41 mm in V. indicus ; from V. parvus by the cheliceral seta bs being acuminate (slightly denticulate in P. parvus ); and from V. congicus and V. spinosus by the shape of the pedipalpal femur which is tubular in V. indicus , but noticeably expanded in half basal part in V. congicus and V. spinosus .

Description (adults) (Figs. 1, 2): Colour: carapace and pedipalps pale red-brown, tergites and coxal region yellow-brown, and legs pale yellow-brown.

Carapace ( Fig. 3 ): anterior section and lateral regions coarsely granulate, remainder smoother, with most of mesozone completely smooth; 1.02–1.35 (♂), 1.22–1.41 (♀) × longer than broad; without eyes or eye-spots; with 60 (♂), 66 (♀) setae, including 33 (♂), 32 (♀) setae in prozone including 6 near anterior margin, 16 (♂), 20 (♀) in mesozone and 11 (♂), 14 (♀) setae in metazone; with 2 furrows, anterior furrow deep, posterior furrow shallow, posterior furrow slightly closer to posterior margin than to anterior furrow; posterior margin slightly emarginate.

Chelicera ( Fig. 4 ): with 5 setae on hand and 1 subdistal seta on movable finger; all setae acuminate; with 2 dorsal lyrifissures and 1 ventral lyrifissure; galea slender with ca. 5–6 rami; rallum ( Fig. 5 ) of 3 blades, anterior blade with several distal serrations, other blades smooth; serrula exterior with 15 (♂, ♀) blades; lamina exterior present.

Pedipalp ( Fig. 6 ): trochanter, femur, patella and chelal hand coarsely granulate, chelal fingers mostly smooth; patella with several small sub-basal lyrifissures; all segments very robust, trochanter 1.80 (♂), 1.85 (♀), femur 2.69–2.92 (♂), 2.79–3.15 (♀), patella 2.28–2.51 (♂), 2.39–2.58 (♀), chela (with pedicel) 3.47–3.73 (♂), 3.50–3.76 (♀), chela (without pedicel) 3.24–3.44 (♂), 3.24–3.46 (♀), hand 1.71–1.84 (♂), 1.69–1.91 (♀) × longer than broad, movable finger 0.84–0.92 (♂), 0.80–0.97 (♀) × longer than hand. Fixed chelal finger with 8 trichobothria, movable chelal finger with 4 trichobothria ( Fig. 7 ): eb and esb situated basally; est situated midway between esb and et; ib and ist situated sub-basally; it situated closer to isb than to tip of finger; isb midway between it and ist; st situated midway between sb and t, and sb situated much closer to b than to st. Fixed and movable fingers without pseudotactile setae. Venom apparatus present only in movable chelal finger, venom duct long, terminating in nodus ramosus slightly proximad to t. Most of chelal fingers teeth rounded, but distal teeth slightly pointed; fixed finger with 37 (♂), 40 (♀) teeth, plus 1 (♂, ♀) subdistal prolateral accessory tooth; movable finger with 38 (♂), 42 (♀) teeth, without accessory tooth; fixed finger with 5 (♂, ♀) retrolateral sense spots and movable finger with 1 (♂, ♀) retrolateral sense spot.

Coxal region: maxillae smooth, except for granulate antero-lateral region; coxae smooth; manducatory process triangular, with 1 short apical and 1 long sub-apical acuminate setae, 1 small sub-oral seta, and 18 (♂), 24 (♀) additional setae; median maxillary lyrifissure rounded and situated submedially; posterior maxillary lyrifissure rounded. Chaetotaxy of coxae I–IV: ♂: 11: 11: 18: 23; ♀: 13: 15: 18: 29.

Legs ( Fig. 8 ): junction between femora and patellae I and II strongly oblique to long axis; femoropatella of leg IV 3.38 (♂), 4.00 (♀) × longer than broad; patella and tibia III and IV without ‘pseudotactile’ setae ( Fig. 7 ); tarsi III

Dimensions (mm): holotype male, followed by 6 male paratypes in parentheses: Body length 1.27 (1.14–1.49). Carapace 0.450/0.390 (0.425–0.48/0.325–0.370). Chelicera 0.170/0.090, movable finger length 0.140. Pedipalps: trochanter 0.225/0.125, femur 0.350/0.120 (0.350–0.355/0.120–0.130), patella 0.345/0.145 (0.325–0.365/0.140- 0.155), chela (with pedicel) 0.675/0.190 (0.660–0.700/0.180–0.195), chela (without pedicel) 0.620 (0.615–0.640), hand (without pedicel) length 0.335 (0.325–0.340), movable finger length 0.290 (0.285–0.310). Leg IV: femoropatella 0.270/0.080, tibia 0.210/0.060, tarsus 0.195/0.045, TS = 0.070.

Dimensions (mm): allotype female, followed by 15 female paratypes in parentheses: Body length 1.83 (1.42– 1.82). Carapace 0.505/0.405 (0.460–0.505/0.335–0.415). Chelicera 0.175/0.095, movable finger length 0.140. Pedipalp: trochanter 0.250/0.135, femur 0.41/0.135 (0.305–0.410/0.120–0.140), patella 0.410/0.165 (0.340–0.415 / 0.135–0.165), chela (with pedicel) 0.800/0.220 (0.680–0.795/0.185–0.220), chela (without pedicel) 0.735 (0.640– 0.735), hand (without pedicel) length 0.395 (0.340–0.410), movable finger length 0.350 (0.305–0.355). Leg IV: femoropatella 0.320/0.080 tibia 0.240/0.060, tarsus 0.195/0.045, TS = 0.080.

Remarks: Pselaphochernes indicus was described from numerous specimens collected from forest litter in southern India ( Beier 1974), but the original description lacked important morphological details, most importantly the shape of the female spermatheca. This structure is of fundamental importance in chernetid taxonomy but is sadly lacking in many older descriptions. The spermatheca of Pselaphochernes consists of a single T-shaped receptaculum which is connected to the gonopore via a thickened tube (e.g. Vachon 1957; Callaini 1986). The Tshaped spermatheca has been used to define the subfamily Lamprochernetinae ( Harvey 1995) .

Pselaphochernes indicus lacks the T-shaped spermatheca that are characteristic of Pselaphochernes . Instead, it has a single rounded receptaculum that is only known from the genus Verrucachernes ( Chamberlin 1947; Harvey 1988). We therefore transfer P. indicus to Verrucachernes .

Schawaller (1991, 1994) identified specimens from Nepal and Thailand as P. indicus but later treated them as Verrucachernes oca ( Schawaller 1995) , noting that P. indicus is likely to be a synonym of V. oca . We have found that Schawaller’s suspicions were correct that P. indicus was a member of Verrucachernes , but there are sufficient morphological differences to retain them as distinct species.

Beier (1974) stated that the paratype vial from the type locality contained seven males, 17 females and one nymph, but we could only locate five males and 14 females, and the nymph was represented only by the abdomen with the remainder of the specimen absent. Likewise, the vial from Coonoor was stated by Beier (1974) contain one male, one female and one nymph, but only contained the adults when examined by us.

Figures

FIGURES 3–8. Ferrucachernes indicus (Beier, 1974), holotype male (MHNG), unless stated otherwise: 3, carapace; 4, right pedipalp, dorsal; 5, left chelicera, dorsal, paratype female; 6, left rallum, paratype female; 7, left leg IV, paratype female; 8, left chela, lateral. Scale lines: 0.2 mm (Figs. 3, 4, 7, 8); 0.1 mm (Fig. 5); 0.05 mm (Fig. 6).