Parabuthus dorisae, Kovařík & Lowe & Elmi & Šťáhlavský, 2024

Kovařík, František, Lowe, Graeme, Elmi, Hassan Sh Abdirahman & Šťáhlavský, František, 2024, Scorpions of the Horn of Africa (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Part XXX. Parabuthus (Buthidae) (Part III), with description of three new species from Somaliland and occurrence of Parabuthus eritreaensis Kovařík, 2003, Euscorpius 385, pp. 1-27 : 4-14

Parabuthus dorisae sp. n.

( Figs. 27–57 , 122–124 , 128 , Table 1) http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:579AE9CC-

D732-4F81-991C-AAB343BD2598

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE REPOSITORY. Somaliland, God Heeli, 9.472021°N 46.857536°E ; FKCP.

TYPE MATERIAL ( FKCP). Somaliland, God Heeli, 9.472021°N 46.857536°E, (Locality No. 21SE, Fig. 53 ), 9.X.2021, 1♂ (holotype, DNA-2037, Figs. 27–28 , 31–52 , 54–57 , 122–124 ) 2♀ juvs. (paratypes 60 and 27 mm long, DNA-1993, 1994, Figs. 29–30 ), leg. F. KovařÍk.

ETYMOLOGY. Three species decribed in this paper are named in honour of three important ladies: Doris Benison, Eva Šebková, and Quincy Isis who helped the first author during a complicated period of his life.

DIAGNOSIS. Adult male holotype 71 mm long, adult female unknown. Base color uniformly yellow to yellowish orange, tergites yellow to yellowish brown, metasoma IV and telson black, metasoma V yellowish brown to brown (black in juveniles). Pectine teeth number 43–44 in male and 32–39 in juvenile females. Stridulatory area present on dorsal surface of metasoma I–II, reduced to absent in metasoma III, and absent in metasoma IV–V. Metasoma densely hirsute. Metasoma V length/ width ratio is 1.68. Dorsal carina of metasoma IV composed posteriorly of blunt denticles, of which the posterior-most denticle is not enlarged. Movable and fixed fingers of pedipalp bear 13 rows of granules, all with external and internal accessory granules. Fingers of pedipalp not elongated. Fingers of pedipalps of male with inner side of base smooth, no trace of tubercle. Manus of pedipalp of male broad, pedipalp chela length/ width ratio 3.35. Pedipalp chela smooth and patella finely granulated. Tarsomere I of legs I–III with bristle-combs.

DESCRIPTION ♂. The adult male holotype is 71 mm long. The habitus is shown in Figs. 27–28 . For position and distribution of trichobothria of pedipalps see Figs. 37–40, 42–43 .

Coloration ( Figs. 27–28 ). The base color is uniformly yellow to yellowish orange, tergites yellow to yellowish brown. The pedipalps and legs are yellow. The metasoma I–III is yellow, metasoma IV is black, and metasoma V is yellow with black pattern. Telson is black. Carapace and tergites are yellowish brown, sternites yellow.

Carapace and mesosoma ( Figs. 27–28 , 47–48 ). The entire carapace is covered with large granules, carinae are absent. The anterior margin of the carapace is medially weakly convex, and bears 14 symmetrically distributed short, stout spiniform macrosetae. The tergites are densely granulated. Tergite VII is pentacarinate, with lateral pairs of carinae strong, serratocrenulate. The pectinal tooth count is 43–44. The pectine marginal tips extend to the third quarter of the five sternite. The pectines have three marginal lamellae and 14 middle lamellae. The lamellae and fulcra bear numerous dark setae. All sternites are smooth, except that there is a stridulatory area on the third sternite. Sternite VII bears four smooth carinae.

Metasoma and telson ( Figs. 31–35 ). The metasoma I-IV with a total of 10 granulated carinae. The fifth segment has five carinae, and its ventral and lateral surfaces are strongly granulated. The ventral surface of metasomal segment V has several strong paired granules symmetrically located laterally in the middle part. Dorsolateral carinae of the third and fourth segments composed of blunt denticles, of which the posterior-most denticle is not enlarged. The stridulatory area is located on the dorsal surface of the metasoma I-II. On the third segment it is reduced and on fourth and fifth segments the stridulatory area is absent. The entire metasoma and the telson are pilose with long hairs. The ventral surface of the telson is strongly granulated. The metasomal segment V length/ width ratio is 1.68. The telson is rather bulbous, with the aculeus approximately the same length as the vesicle.

Pedipalps ( Figs. 36–46 ). The pedipalps are hirsute with shorter setae on the chela and the patella, and longer setae on the femur, and trochanter. The femur bears four carinae. The chela is smooth without carinae and the patella is finely granulated with carinae indicated. The movable and fixed fingers of pedipalp bear 12–13 rows of granules, all with external and internal accessory granules. The fingers of pedipalps of male with inner side of base smooth, tubercle absent. The manus of pedipalp of male broad, pedipalp chela length/ width ratio 3.35.

Legs ( Figs. 49–52 ). Legs III and IV bear tibial spurs. Retrolateral and prolateral pedal spurs are present on all legs. All legs without distinct carinae and smooth. The tarsomeres bear two rows of macrosetae on the ventral surface and other macrosetae on the other surfaces. The bristle-combs are present on all legs, although slightly reduced on the fourth leg. Hemispermatophore ( Figs. 54–57 ). Flagelliform, elongate and slender. Trunk ca. 10 times length of capsule. Flagellum arising from posterior lobe of capsule; pars recta narrow, hyaline, coiled, ribbon-like, 2.3× length of capsule; pars reflecta thick, white, fusiform, 3.2× length of capsule. Sperm hemiduct with 3 lobes: a broad posterior lobe with angulate apical margin and strong anterior carina; a small anterior lobe; and a robust, hook-like basal lobe with pointed tip. Left and right hemispermatophores were similar. Hemispermatophore is similar to that reported for other Parabuthus species (Alexander, 1959, KovařÍk et al., 2016; 2019; Lamoral, 1979). Measurements. See Table 1.

VARIABILITY. There are two paratypes, both juvenile females 60 and 27 mm long. Analysis of DNA confirmed that both juveniles belong to the same species as male holotype. These juveniles have 32–39 pectinal teeth and the main diference from the holotype is that their metasoma V is black or almost black ( Figs. 29-30 ) .

AFFINITIES. According to the characters used in the key published in KovařÍk et al. (2019) the new species which is also confirmed by DNA phylogeny (paper in preparation) is most similar to P. somalilandus . Male of P. dorisae sp. n. has metasoma relatively slightly slender than males of P. somalilandus , metasoma I L/W 1.05 (0.98–1.01 in P. somalilandus ), metasoma V L/W 1.68 (1.58–1.60 in P. somalilandus ). Metasoma V is entirely yellow in P. somalilandus but yellowish brown to brown (black in juveniles) in P. dorisae sp. n.

COMMENTS ON LOCALITY AND LIFE STRATEGY. See comments under P. eritreaensis .

DISTRIBUTION. Somaliland ( Fig. 128 ).

Figures

Figures 27–28. Parabuthus dorisae sp. n., male holotype, in dorsal (27) and ventral (28) views. Scale bar: 10 mm.

Figures 29–35: Parabuthus dorisae sp. n. Figure 29. Juvenile paratype 60 mm long, metasoma IV–V and telson lateral. Figure 30. Juvenile paratype 27 mm long, metasoma and telson lateral. Figures 31–35: Male holotype. Figure 31. Metasoma V, and telson in lateral view. Figure 32. Metasoma I–III in dorsal view.Figures 33–35. Metasoma and telson in lateral (33), ventral (34), and dorsal (35) views. Scale bars: 10 mm (29–30, 33–35).

Figures 36–48: Parabuthus dorisae sp. n., male holotype. Figures 36–46. Right pedipalp, chela in dorsal (36), external (37), and ventral (38) views, patella in dorsal (39), external (40), and ventral (41) views, femur and trochanter in internal (42), dorsal (43), and ventral (44) views. Dentate margins of movable (45) and fixed (46) fingers. Trichobothrial pattern indicated in Figures 37– 40 and 42–43 by white circles. Figure 47. Carapace and tergites I–V. Figures 48. Sternopectinal area and sternites.

Figures 49–53: Parabuthus dorisae sp. n., male holotype.. Figures 49–52. Right legs I–IV, retrolateral aspect. Figure 53. Type locality, Somaliland, vicinity of God Heeli.

Figures 54–57: Parabuthus dorisae sp. n., holotype, right hemispermatophore. Figure 54. Whole hemispermatophore, convex view. Figure 55. Capsule and flagellum, convex view. Figures 56–57. Capsule, in posterior (56) and anterior (57) views. Scale bars: 2 mm (54), 1 mm (55–57).

Figures 122–127. Male mitotic metaphases (122, 125), postpachytenes (123, 126), one sister (124) and two sister metaphases II (127) of Parabuthus species. Parabuthus dorisae sp. n. (sample 2037) (2n=16, 4II+CVIII) (122–124), P. quincyae sp. n. (sample S2134) (2n=16, II+CXIV) (125–127). Arrowheads show chromosomes in multivalent association during postpachytene. Scale bar: 5 μm. (122–127).

Figures 128–129: Figure 128. Map showing confirmed distribution of Parabuthus spp. In Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Somaliland. Figure 129. Parabuthus eritreaensis, female from Somaliland in vivo habitus.