Scorpiops birulai, Kovařík & Lowe & Stockmann & Šťáhlavský, 2020

Kovařík, František, Lowe, Graeme, Stockmann, Mark & Šťáhlavský, František, 2020, Revision of genus-group taxa in the family Scorpiopidae Kraepelin, 1905, with description of 15 new species (Arachnida Scorpiones), Euscorpius 325, pp. 1-140 : 43-48

Scorpiops birulai sp. n.

( Figures 159 , 181 , 186 , 331–352 , 359 , 799 , 801 , Tables 3, 9) http: //zoobank. org / urn: lsid: zoobank. org: act: FA2B49A2-

6B88-4428-A1B0-DB6B75033D5B

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE REPOSITORY. Thailand, Chumphon Province, Phato , 9.8292990°N 98.7731480°E ; FKCP.

TYPE MATERIAL. Thailand, Chumphon Province, Phato , 9.8292990°N 98.7731480°E, 222 m a. s. l., 28.X.2019, 22:00 h , UV detection, scorpion walking around on tree, primary forest, new moon, 1♂ (holotype, 1800), leg. M. Stockmann , FKCP.

ETYMOLOGY. The specific epithet is a patronym honoring Alexei Andreevich Byalynitskii-Birulya (or A. A. Birula) (1864–1938), a renowned Russian zoologist and arachnologist who specialized in scorpions and solpugids.

DIAGNOSIS (♂). Total length 65 mm. Base color uniformly reddish black to black. Telson and tarsomere II of legs reddish brown. Pectine teeth number 11 in male; fulcra present; 3 marginal and 4 middle lamellae. Patella of pedipalp with 27 (5 eb, 7 esb, 2 em, 6 est, and 7 et) external and 18 ventral trichobothria. Chela of pedipalp with 12 V series trichobothria located on ventral surface. Chelal trichobothrium Eb 3 located in distal half of manus between trichobothria Dt and Est. Fingers of pedipalps undulate in male. Chela length to width ratio 5.8. Pedipalp movable finger with ca. 70 IAD, which have the same size as MD (more than 100 in number) and create a second row; there are also 7–8 ID and 18 OD present. Tarsomere II of leg III with row of six stout median ventral spinules, and two pairs of flanking setae. Metasoma I with 10 and metasoma II–IV with 8 carinae. Telson elongate and sparsely granulate, length to depth ratio 3.8 in male; annular ring developed.

DESCRIPTION (♂ holotype). Total length 65 mm. Female unknown. Habitus as shown in Figs. 331–332 . For position and distribution of trichobothria on pedipalps, see Figs. 337a–342a . Fingers of pedipalps undulate in male ( Fig. 338 ). Coloration ( Figs. 331–332 ). Base color uniformly reddish black to black, telson, legs, and sternites are reddish brown. Chelicerae reddish brown and reticulate, fingers black.

Carapace and mesosoma ( Figs. 347–348 ). Entire carapace covered with large granules; carinae absent. Anterior margin of carapace with a deep median notch. Carapace with 3 pairs of lateral eyes of which two are normal and one is reduced. Mesosoma granulated, with one median carina. Tergite VII is pentacarinate. Sternites smooth to very finely granulated with two parallel furrows except sternite VII which has four granulate carinae. Pectine teeth number 11 in male holotype. Pectines with 3 marginal and 4 middle lamellae; fulcra present.

Metasoma and telson ( Figs. 333–336 ). Metasoma sparsely hirsute and granulated, with sparse, relatively large granules. Metasomal segment I with 10 carinae, II–IV with 8 carinae, and V with 5 carinae. Median lateral carinae of metasoma II and V indicated by isolated granules that may coalesce into carinae. Dorsolateral carinae of the second to fourth segments terminate posteriorly in a pronounced tooth. Telson elongate and sparsely granulate with annular ring developed.

Pedipalps ( Figs. 337–346 ). Pedipalps very sparsely hirsute. Patella with 27 (5 eb, 7 esb, 2 em, 6 est, and 7 et) external and 18 ventral trichobothria. Chela with 12 ventral trichobothria located on the ventral surface. Femur and patella granulated. Femur with 5–6 granulose carinae, and patella with 5 carinae with dorsal and ventral patellar spurs pronounced. Manus dorsally with fine, rounded granules, which in the central area form an irregular dorsal secondary carina. External surface of chela densely covered by minute granules, with a regular external secondary carina. Movable fingers with ca. 70 IAD, which have the same size as MD (more than 100 in number) and create a second row; there are also 7–8 ID and 18 OD present.

Legs ( Figs. 349–352 ). Tibia and tarsomeres of legs with several setae not arranged into bristle combs on dorsal surfaces but with rows of spinules on dorsolateral surfaces and on legs I – II also on ventrolateral surface. Tarsomere II of legs I–IV with 5–7 stout median ventral spinules and two pairs of flanking setae. Femur with 3–4 and patella 4–5 carinae; both femur and patella granulated.

Measurements. See Table 3.

AFFINITIES. Among species which have 11–14 ventral trichobothria on the chela manus, only four other species have 18 ventral trichobothria on the pedipalp patella. However, they differ as follows: S. calmonti (Lourenço, 2013) has one or two trichobothria of the ventral V series traversing the ventroexternal carina, and positioned on the external surface of the manus; males of S. sherwoodae sp. n. and S. anthracinus Simon, 1887 have fingers of pedipalps strongly undulate; and S. citadelle (Kovařík, 2013) has total length 37–53 mm, reduced fulcra, and almost straight pedipalp fingers in males. In contrast, S. birulai sp. n. has all V series trichobothria of the chela manus on the ventral surface, fingers of pedipalps undulate in male, total length 65 mm, and fulcra present.

DISTRIBUTION. Thailand ( Fig. 799 ).

Figures

Figure 186: Dentition of crown-like structures (cls) and distal posterior lobe (dpl) apex of 16 scorpiopids. Species are grouped according to four major clades resolved by DNA analysis (Šťáhlavský et al., in press). To highlight inconsistency of the trichobothrial classification with molecular phylogeny, previously described species are listed under genera (in quotes) where they were originally placed according to trichobothriotaxic characters of Soleglad & Fet (2001). Cited ranges of cls denticle counts for each species represent data from both left and right hemispermatophores extracted from all available specimens: N =1, except for “Alloscorpiops” wongpromi (N = 2), “A.” anthracinus (N = 2), Scorpiops thaomischi (N = 2), and “Euscorpiops” problematicus (N = 3). Data with N> 1 reveal intraspecific stability of cls dentition patterns, and intraspecific variability of dpl denticulation patterns. Right insets: convex (upper inset) and concave (lower inset) views of whole hemispermatophore of Scorpiops kautti sp. n. Anatomical structures and measurements are indicated. Scale bar: 2 mm.

Figure 799. Geographic distribution of the family Scorpiopidae. The map plots locality

Figures 149–163: Whole hemispermatophores of 15 scorpiopids. Convex (external) aspect of hemispermatophores of: Scorpiops oligotrichus (149), S. citadelle (150), S. sherwoodae sp. n. (151), S. montanus (152), S. pakseensis sp. n. (153), S. leptochirus (154), S. phatoensis sp. n. (155), S. schumacheri (156), S. wongpromi (157), S. kautti sp. n. (158), S. birulai sp. n. (159), S. anthracinus (160), S. thaomischi (161), S. dii sp. n. (162) and S. problematicus (163). Specimen numbers indicated. Scale bars: 2 mm (149–154, 157–161, 163), 1 mm (155–156, 162).

Figures 170–185: Hemispermatophore capsules of 16 scorpiopids. Convex aspect of capsules of: Scorpiops oligotrichus (170), S. citadelle (171), S. sherwoodae sp. n. (172), S. montanus (173), S. pakseensis sp. n. (174), S. leptochirus (175), S. phatoensis sp. n. (176), S. schumacheri (177), S. wongpromi (178), S. kautti sp. n. (179), S. krabiensis sp. n. (180), S. birulai sp. n. (181), S. anthracinus (182), S. thaomischi (183), S. dii sp. n. (184) and S. problematicus (185). Specimen number of S. krabiensis 1829, of others as indicated in Figs. 149–163. Scale bars: 400 μm (170–175, 178–185), 200 μm (176–177).

Figures 331–336: Scorpiops birulai sp. n., male holotype. Figures 331–332. dorsal (331) and ventral (332) views. Figures 333–336. Telson lateral (333), and metasoma and telson lateral (334), ventral (335), and dorsal (336) views. Scale bars: 10 mm (331–332, 334–336).

Figures 337–346: Scorpiops birulai sp. n., male holotype, pedipalp segments. Chela dorsal (337), external (338) and ventral (339) views. Patella dorsal (340), external (341) and ventral (342) views. Femur and trochanter dorsal (343), and ventral (344) views. Fixed (345) and movable (346) finger dentition. Trichobothrial pattern is indicated by white circles (337a–342a).

Figures 347–358: Figures 347–352. Scorpiops birulai sp. n., male holotype, carapace and tergites I–IV (347), coxosternal area and sternites (348), left legs I–IV, retrolateral aspect (349–352 respectively). Figures 353–358. Scorpiops sherwoodae sp. n., male holotype, carapace and tergites I–IV (353), coxosternal area and sternites (354), left legs I–IV, retrolateral aspect (355–358 respectively).

Figures 359–362. Thailand, type localities of Scorpiops birulai sp. n. (359), S. kautti sp. n. (360), S. krabiensis sp. n. (361), and S. phatoensis sp. n. (362).

Figures 800–807: Male karyotypes of scorpiopid species based on postpachytene. Figure 800. Scorpiops anthracinus (2n=105, 51II+III). Figure 801. Scorpiops birulai sp. n. (2n=99, 96II+III). Figure 802. Scorpiops citadelle (2n=104, 52II). Figure 803. Scorpiops dii sp. n. (2n=109, 53II+III). Figure 804. Scorpiops kautti sp. n. (2n=87, 42II+III). Figure 805. Scorpiops krabiensis sp. n. (2n=81, 39II+III). Figure 806. Scorpiops leptochirus (2n=96, 48II). Figure 807. Scorpiops montanus (2n=70, 35II). Insets show the location of 18S rDNA (red signal) on the same chromosome as in the karyogram (ppach) and additionally on chromosomes during pachytene (pach) or metaphase II (met II). Abbreviation of postpachytene configuration: II – bivalent, III – trivalent. Scale bar: 10 μm.