Scorpiops vrushchik, Sulakhe & Deshpande & Dandekar & Padhye & Bastawade, 2021

Sulakhe, Shauri, Deshpande, Shubhankar, Dandekar, Nikhil, Padhye, Anand & Bastawade, Deshabhushan, 2021, Four new lithophilic species of Scorpiops Peters 1861 (Scorpiones Scorpiopidae) from peninsular India, Euscorpius 337, pp. 1-49 : 8-12

Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n.

( Figures 1–32 , 127, 131, 135 , 139, 149 , 153–157 , Tables 2, 5–7) http: //zoobank. org/urn: lsid: zoobank. org: act: E88A7E34-

E5B3-497B-810D-85C41F0417A4

TYPE LOCALITY AND AND TYPE REPOSITORY. India, Maharashtra State, Ahmednagar District, Khireshwar Village, near Harishchandragad Fort , 19°22'54"N 73°48'25"E ; BNHS.

TYPE MATERIAL. India, Maharashtra State, Ahmednagar District, Khireshwar village, near Harishchandragad Fort , 19°22'54"N 73°48'25"E, 719 m a. s. l., 1♂ (holotype, BNHS SC 250 ), 4♂ (paratypes, INHER-238, 239, BNHS SC 251 , 252 ), 2♀ (paratype, INHER-231, BNHS SC 253 ), 29 June 2020, leg. S. Sulakhe, S. Deshpande, M. Ketkar & A. Marathe.

ETYMOLOGY. The specific epithet is derived from a Sanskrit word vrushchik , meaning scorpion.

DIAGNOSIS (♂ ♀). Total length 49–57 mm. Base color uniformly dark brownish to blackish. Pectinal teeth number 6–8 in both sexes, fulcra reduced to absent. Pectine morphology of type P4. Anterior margin of carapace between lateral ocelli and U shaped anterior median notch curved. Patella of pedipalp with 21–24 (5 eb, 2 esb, 2 em, 7–9 est, 5–6 et) external and 13–15 ventral trichobothria. Chela of pedipalp with 4 ventral trichobothria located on ventral surface. Chelal trichobothrium Eb 3 is located in proximal half of manus between trichobothria Dt and Db. Fingers of pedipalps strongly undulate in male and margins undulate in female. Chela length to width ratio 2.9–3.0 in males. Pedipalp movable finger with ca 50–55 IAD, which form second row, parallel with MD (ca 60–65 in number); there are also 4–5 ID and 11–12 OD present. Tarsomere II of legs with 4–6 stout median ventral spinules. Metasoma I with ten, metasoma II–IV with eight and metasoma V with 7 carinae. Dorsal lateral carina on II-IV metasomal segments ending posteriorly into a short spine. Telson elongate and smooth, length to depth ratio 2.8–3.1; annular ring absent.

DESCRIPTION. (♂ holotype, measurements in Table 1) Coloration (in preservation) ( Figs. 1–3 , 9, 10 ). Overall body color dark brownish to blackish. Legs uniformly brownish. Telson orangish brown on vesicle and dark brown on aculeus. Ventral portion of body yellowish brown. Carapace and fingers of manus blackish. Pedipalps dark brown, darker on carinae. Chelicera basal segment blackish brown. Fingers of chelicera dark brown.

Carapace ( Figs. 13–16 ). Anterior margin of carapace almost smooth with deep U shaped anterior median notch. Anterior sub margin finely granular. Anterior margin of carapace between lateral eyes and U shaped anterior median notch curved. Entire surface of carapace with fine granules. Anteriolateral ocular tubercles granular provided with type 3A lateral ocelli. Two pairs of large major ocelli and one pair of minor ocelli. Median ocular tubercle smooth on dorsal portion with a pair of median ocelli situated in the ratio of 1:2.1 (ratio of median ocelli to anterior margin and median ocelli to posterior margin).

Chelicerae ( Fig. 6 ). Proximal portion with reticulated mosaic design. Fixed finger of chelicera with 3 large triangular teeth on inner margin. Ventral fang of movable finger with a row of 6 minute teeth on inner margin. Dorsal fang of movable finger with 4 teeth on inner margin.

Pedipalp ( Figs. 17–22 , 127, 135 , 149 ). Femur and patella dorsoventrally flattened. Femur with 6 carinae (dorsal retrolateral, dorsal prolateral, retrolateral dorsosubmedian, prolateral ventrosubmedian, ventral retrolateral and ventral prolateral). Ventral prolateral carina present only on 1/3rd proximal portion. Intercarinal space finely and almost evenly granular. Patella with 5 carinae (dorsal retrolateral, dorsal prolateral, retrolateral dorsosubmedian, ventral retrolateral and ventral prolateral). Internal surface of patella with one large posterio-ventral tubercle and with one small, thick adjacent bulge, one adjacent small posterio-dorsal tubercle and one very small, anterio-ventral tubercle ( Fig. 135 ). Manus stout with 5 carinae (dorsal retrolateral, retrolateral median, ventral retrolateral, dorsal prolateral and ventral prolateral). Dorsal retrolateral and dorsal prolateral carinae running anteriorly up to the tip of fixed finger. Intercarinal space coarsely granular on inner and outer surface. Both fingers scalloped deeply at the base. Trichobothrial pattern neobothriotaxic.

Legs ( Figs. 2, 3 , 7–10 , 23–26 ). Femur and patella carinated, intercarinal space almost smooth. Tarsomere I provided with three to four rows of spinules and tarsomere II with single ventral row of spinules.

Sternum, genital operculum and pectines ( Figs. 4 , 11 ). Sternum broad, pentagonal and finely granular only on anterior middle portion. Genital operculum with a pair of strongly protruding genital papillae. Basal piece with slight depression on anterior middle portion. Pectine morphology of type P4 with 8/8 pectinal teeth.

Mesosoma ( Figs. 2, 3 , 7–10 ). All tergites finely granular, with median carina absent on segment I. Tergite VII additionally with two pairs of lateral granular carinae present only on half posterior portion. Sternites III-VI entirely smooth. Sternite VII finely granular with a pair of weak granular lateral carinae.

Metasoma ( Figs. 2, 3 , 7–10 , 131 , 139 ). Metasomal segments I with 5 pairs of carinae (dorsal lateral, lateral supramedian, lateral inframedian, ventral lateral and ventral submedian), metasomal segments II-IV with 4 pairs of carinae (dorsal lateral, lateral supramedian, ventral lateral and ventral submedian) and segment V with 3 pairs (dorsal lateral, lateral inframedian and ventral lateral) and 1 single ventral median carinae. Lateral inframedian present only on anterior portion of segment V. Intercarinal space finely granular. Dorsal lateral carination on segments II-IV ending posteriorly into a short spine. Anal rim of segment V evenly crenulated. A pair of dorsolateral granules of anal rim weakly tuberculate.

Telson ( Figs. 5 , 12 ). Elongated and almost entirely smooth. A depression present in between vesicle and at the base of aculeus. A pair of dorsal lateral carinae present on the vesicle. Hemispermatophore ♂ paratype, INHER-238 ( Figs. 27– 29 ). Lamelliform; distal basal carina (bc) with a plate like structure present, sclerotized, crown-like structure (cls) with distal margin smooth without denticles whose internal surface is attached to terminal membrane of the sperm duct (tmsd) on the inner concave side of the capsule with numerous spicules; pointed lateral hook (lh); a long, inwardly twisted distal posterior lobe (dpl) close to the distal lamina, with finely denticulate margin; short and stout trunk; long and slender distal lamina (dl) narrow at the base and sharply bent and tapered apex. Total length 8.5 mm; pedicel 1.15 mm long; trunk 1.78 mm long; capsule 1.15 mm long; dpl length 0.40 mm; dl length 4.42 mm long.

SEXUAL DIMORPHISM. Male genital operculum with pair of genital papillae. In females, the genital operculum medially sutured. Pedipalp manus slender in males and stouter in females ( Figs. 2–5 , 7–16 ).

AFFINITIES. Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n. is closely related to S. tenuicauda and S. telbaila . The new species is separated by a raw genetic divergence of 9.6-9.8% from S. tenuicauda and 11% from S. telbaila . It also differs from its close congeners based on following set of morphological characters: Dorsal lateral carina on II-IV metasomal segments ending posteriorly into a short spine as opposed to ending into a larger tuberculate spine in S. tenuicauda and S. telbaila ; anterior margin of carapace almost smooth as opposed to strongly tuberculate in S. telbaila .

It differs from all the remaining species of Scorpiops from northern Western Ghats and northern Maharashtra ( India) by a raw genetic divergence of 12.4–13.4 % ( Table 5). It is also distinguished from all the species of Scorpiops from peninsular India based on the key of morphological characters (See below).

DISTRIBUTION, HABITAT AND ECOLOGY. Presently Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n. is known from its type locality, Khireshwar Village, near Harishchandragad Fort, Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra, India and surrounding area on the Harishchandragad Fort. The type series is collected from private land surrounding Khireshwar Village, however specimens were observed commonly throughout the trek route till the top of the fort. Specimens were also observed inside the Ganesh caves on top of the fort. The species is found in the crevices of basaltic boulders in the semi-evergreen forest patches and on rocky cliffs. Individuals were found to be active at night sitting at the openings of rock crevices and occasionally in the open. The ecology and morphology of the new species is congruent with the lithophilic scorpions ( Figs. 30–32 , 153 ).

Figures

Figure 1. Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n., male, holotype in vivo habitus.

Figures 2–6. Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n., male, holotype, dorsal (2) and ventral (3) views, sternopectinal area (4), metasomal segment V and telson in lateral view (5) and chelicera in dorsal view (6).

Figures 7–8. Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n., male, holotype dorsal (7) and ventral (8) views under UV light.

Figures 9–12. Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n., female, paratype, BNHS SC 253, dorsal (9) and ventral (10) views, sternopectinal area (11) and metasomal segment V and telson in lateral view (12).

Figures 13–16. Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n. Figures 13–14. Male, holotype, carapace under white light (13) and UV fluorescence (14). Figures 15-16. Female, paratype, BHNS SC 253, carapace under white light (15) and UV fluorescence (16).

Figures 17–22. Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n., male, holotype. Figures 17–22. Pedipalp chela dorsal (17), ventral (18) and dorsoexternal (19), patella external (20), dorsal (21) and ventral (22) views under UV fluorescence. Trichobothrial pattern indicated by yellow circles.

Figures 23–29. Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n. Figures 23–26. Male, holotype, left legs I-IV, retrolateral aspect. Figures 27–29. Male, paratype, INHER-238, hemispermatophore internal (27), external (28) views and capsular region in internal view (29). Abbrevations: distal lamina (dl), capsule (c), trunk (t), pedicel (p), distal posterior lobe (dpl), lateral hook (lh), terminal membrane of the sperm duct (tmsd) and basal carina (bc).

Figures 30–32. Type locality of Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n., view of mountains surrounding Harishchandragad fort very close to type locality (30, 31) and view of Ganesh caves on top of Harishchandragad fort where population of the new species was observed (32).

Figure 153. Distribution of Scorpiops species from Peninsular India. Localities with a star indicate new species described in this study.

Figure 154. Boxplots showing variations in ratios of pedipalp chela length to width in males for all Scorpiops species from Peninsular India (except S. pachmarhicus due to unavailability of sufficient males).

Figure 155. Projection of first two Principal Component factors explaining 81.89% variation among the nine species of the genus Scorpiops from Peninsular India (except S. pachmarhicus and S. satarensis due to unavailability of sufficient males).

Figure 156. Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic tree (ML) for Scorpiops. Values along the nodes are bootstraps for 1000 iterations.

Figure 157. Bayesian phylogenetic tree for Scorpiops. Values along the nodes are Bayesian posterior probabilities for Bayesian Inference and Bayesian Poisson Tree Process (bPTP) respectively. Vertical bars represent delimitation analyses results.

Figures 127–138: Figures 127–130: Comparison of left pedipalps. Figures 131–134: Comparison of metasomal segments II-IV in lateral view. Figures 135–138: Comparison of pedipalp patella dorsal view with internal aspect tubercles. Figures 127, 131, 135. Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n., male, holotype. Figures 128, 132, 136. Scorpiops nagphani sp. n., male, holotype. Figures 129, 133, 137. Scorpiops neera sp. n., male, holotype. Figures 130, 134, 138. Scorpiops lioneli sp. n., male, holotype.

Figures 139–152: Figures 139–142: Comparison of dorsolateral granules on anal rim of metasomal segment V in dorsal view. Figures 143–152: Comparison of dentition on movable finger of chela with field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images in dorsal view. Figures 139, 149. Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n., male, holotype. Figures 140, 150. Scorpiops nagphani sp. n., male, holotype. Figures 141, 151. Scorpiops neera sp. n., male, holotype. Figures 142, 152. Scorpiops lioneli sp. n., male, holotype. Figure 143. S. tenuicauda, male, INHER-214. Figure 144. S. satarensis, male, INHER-213. Figure 145. S. deccanensis, male, INHER-86. Figure 146. S. maharashtraensis, male, INHER-179. Figure 147. S. phaltanensis, male, paratype, INHER-64. Figure 148. S. telbaila, male, paratype, INHER-123.