Isometrus Ehrenberg, 1828

Sulakhe, Shauri, Dandekar, Nikhil, Padhye, Anand & Bastawade, Deshabhushan, 2020, Two new cryptic species of Isometrus (Scorpiones Buthidae) from the northern Western Ghats India, Euscorpius 305, pp. 1-24 : 3

Genus Isometrus Ehrenberg, 1828

( Figure. 1–61 , Tables 1–6)

Isometrus (selected references): Pocock, 1893: 297; Pocock, 1900: 44 (in part); Vachon, 1972: 169; Tikader & Bastawade, 1983: 254 (in part); Kovařík, 1994: 189 (in part); Fet & Lowe, 2000: 146 (in part; complete reference list until 1998); Kovařík, 2003: 1 (in part); Kovařík & Ojanguren, 2013: 180 (in part).

TYPE SPECIES. Scorpio maculatus DeGeer, 1778

Figures

Figures 1–5: Isometrus tamhini sp. n., male holotype Figures 1–2. Dorsal (1) and ventral (2) views Figure 3. Sternopectinal area. Figures 4–5. Telson in lateral (4) and ventral (5) views.

Figures 6–10: Isometrus tamhini sp. n. Figures 6–7. Male holotype in dorsal (6) and ventral (7) views, UV image. Figures 8–10. Female paratype, BNHS-SC-156, in dorsal (8) and ventral (9) views, and sternopectinal area (10).

Figures 11–16: Isometrus tamhini sp. n. Figures 11–14. Male holotype, Pedipalp chela external (11), patella dorsal (12), and external (13), and femur in dorsal (14) view. Trichobothrial pattern indicated by yellow circles. Figures 15–16. Type locality of I. tamhini sp. n., a dense semi–evergreen forest of Tamhini and Dongarwadi.

Figures 17–21: Isometrus amboli sp. n., male holotype Figures 17–18. Dorsal (17) and ventral (18) views Figure 19. Sternopectinal area. Figures 20–21. Telson in lateral (20) and ventral (21) views.

Figures 22–26: Isometrus amboli sp. n. Figures 22–23. Male holotype in dorsal (22) and ventral (23) views, UV image. Figures 24–26. Female paratype, BNHS-SC-158, in dorsal (24) and ventral (25) views, and sternopectinal area (26).

Figures 27–32: Isometrus amboli sp. n. Figures 27–31. Male holotype, Pedipalp chela external (27), patella dorsal (28), and external (29), and femur in dorsal (30) and internal (31) view. Trichobothrial pattern indicated by yellow circles. Figure 32. Type locality of I. amboli sp. n., a dense semi–evergreen forest with tall trees.

Figures 33–35: Figure 33. Type locality of I. amboli sp. n., a dense semi–evergreen forest with tall trees. Figures 34–35. Type localities of I. tamhini sp. n. and I. amboli sp. n. from the northern Western Ghats of India.

Figures 36–39: Comparative surface granulation of carapace. Figure 36. Isometrus tamhini sp. n., male, holotype. Figure 37. I. amboli sp. n., male, holotype. Figure 38. I. thurstoni, male, INHER-SC-139. Figure 39. I. maculatus, male, CAS-66-486 (photo by Shruti Paripatyadar).

Figures 40–43: Comparative color pattern on carapace. Figure 40. Isometrus tamhini sp. n., male, holotype. Figure 41. I. amboli sp. n., male, holotype. Figure 42. I. thurstoni, male, INHER-SC-139. Figure 43. I. maculatus, male, Cuba (photo by Rolando Teruel)

Figures 44–59: Figures 44–47: Comparison of pedipalp femur, dorsalointerior view.Figures 48–51: Comparison of pedipalp patella, dorsalointerior view, Figures 52–55: Comparison of telson, lateral view. Figures 56–59: Comparison of anterior margins of carapace. Figures 44, 48, 52, 56. I. maculatus, male, CAS-66-486 (44, 48, photos byShruti Paripatyadar).and male from Cuba (52, 56 photosby Rolando Teruel).Figures 45, 49, 53, 57. I. thurstoni, male, INHER-SC-139. Figures 46, 50, 54, 58. I. tamhini sp. n., male, holotype. Figures 47, 51, 55, 59. I. amboli sp. n., male, holotype.

Figure 60: Discriminant function analyses (DFA) projection on first two factor planes explaining 86.71% of variation among the four species.

Figure 61: Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogeny of the Indian Isometrus. Values along the nodes are % bootstraps for 1000 iterations.