Grosphus feti Lourenço, 1996

Lourenço, Wilson R., 2014, The genus Grosphus Simon, 1880 in South-Western Madagascar, with the description of a new species (Scorpiones, Buthidae), Zoosystema 36 (3), pp. 631-645 : 636

Grosphus feti Lourenço, 1996

Grosphus feti Lourenço, 1996: 14 .

TYPE MATERIAL. — Male holotype and male paratype: Madagascar, South region, Toliara, Tanjon I Vohimena ( Cap Sainte Marie ), X.1995 (S. M. Goodman), FMNH .

DIAGNOSIS. — Scorpion of small size with a total length of 30 to 40 mm. General coloration yellowish; carapace, tergites, pedipalps and legs with blackish spots. Carapace and tergites weakly granular. Pectines: pectinal teeth count 30- 30 in both male holotype and paratype; basal middle lamellae of each pecten not dilated in males. Dorsal carinae on segments II to IV without any posterior spinoid granule. Fixed and movable fingers with 11-12 oblique rows of granules.

DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY. — Grosphus feti comes from the stunted coastal forest formation of the Réserve Spéciale de Cap Sainte Marie. The original diagnosis of this species was based on its unique pigmentation pattern, including a general yellowish coloration with an inverted blackish triangle on the front of the carapace (as for G. limbatus ), and the presence of five longitudinal stripes over the tergites. These stripes are arranged as one thin line over the central carinae, two large latero-internal lines, and two rather thin latero-external lines. Metasomal segment V and telson are granulated and blackish ( Fig. 4C ). These coloration patterns are more similar to G. limbatus than to G. annulatus or G. olgae . However, G. feti is only known by two male specimens and as long as the female remains unknown, further precise comparisons between these species remains impossible. Gropshus feti is only known from the type locality, which has a very particular habitat and vegetational community ( Nicoll & Langrand 1989).

Figures

FIG. 4. Ỏ Grophus ssp., Metasomal segment V and telson, lateral aspect: A, B, Grosphus olgae LourenÁo, 2004, male (A) and female (B) paratypes; C, Grosphus feti LourenÁo, 1996, male holotype; D, Grosphus rossii LourenÁo, 2013, male holotype; E, Grosphus magalieae n. sp., male holotype. Scale bars: 2 mm.