Scorpiops nagphani, 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 : 12-20

Scorpiops nagphani sp. n.

( Figures 33–64 , 128, 132, 136 , 140, 150 , 153–157 , Tables 2, 3, 5–7) http: //zoobank. org/urn: lsid: zoobank. org: act: 9D96DC3C-

E77E-43B7-8C3A-D9515CE3CCED

TYPE LOCALITY AND AND TYPE REPOSITORY. India, Maharashtra State, Pune District, Nigdale Village, near Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary , 19°04'40"N 73°33'32"E ; BNHS.

TYPE MATERIAL. India, Maharashtra State, Pune District, Nigdale Village, near Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary , 19°04'40"N 73°33'32"E, 963 m a. s. l., 1♂ (holotype, BNHS SC 254 ), 4♂ (paratypes, INHER-257, 259, 263, BNHS SC 255 ), 2♀ (paratype, INHER- 260, BNHS SC 257 ), 21 July 2020, 2♀ (paratype, INHER- 338, BNHS SC 256 ), 02 July 2020. All specimens collected by S. Sulakhe, S. Deshpande, M. Ketkar, A. Marathe & G. Gowande.

ETYMOLOGY. The specific epithet is noun in opposition, named after a steep hill top with a rocky cliff inside Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary, which is popularly known as “Nagphani” in Marathi language, meaning Cobra (nag) hood (phani), which is very close to the type locality. The hiking route to Nagphani passes through thick semi-evergreen forest with basaltic boulders where abundance of the new species was observed.

DIAGNOSIS (♂ ♀). Total length 38–42 mm. Base color uniformly blackish. Pectinal teeth number 6–7 in both sexes, fulcra reduced to absent. Pectine morphology of type P3. Patella of pedipalp with 18–23 (5 eb, 2 esb, 2 em, 4–8 est, 5–6 et) external and 12–14 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 3.7–4.0 in males. Pedipalp movable finger with ca 45–50 IAD, which form second row, parallel with MD (ca 60–65 in number); there are also 3–4 ID and 10–11 OD present. Total pedipalp length to mesosomal tergite length in males 1.6–1.9. Tarsomere II of legs with 4–6 stout median ventral spinules. Metasoma I, II and III with ten, metasoma 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 2.5–2.9; annular ring absent.

DESCRIPTION (♂ holotype, measurements in Tables 2–3).

Coloration (in preservation) ( Figs. 33– 35 , 41, 42 ). Overall body color blackish. Legs blackish brown. Telson orangish brown on vesicle and dark brown on aculeus. Ventral portion of body dark brown. Carapace and fingers of manus blackish. Pedipalps blackish brown, darker on carinae. Chelicera basal segment blackish brown. Fingers of chelicera brownish black. Carapace ( Figs. 45–48 ). Anterior margin of carapace strongly granular with deep U shaped anterior median notch. Anterior sub margin coarsely granular. Anterior margin of carapace between lateral eyes and U shaped anterior median notch slightly curved. Entire surface of carapace with fine granules. Anterio-lateral ocular tubercles granular provided with type 3A lateral ocelli. Two pairs of large major ocelli and one pair of minor ocelli. Median ocular tubercle granular 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. 38 ). 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 5 minute teeth on inner margin. Dorsal fang of movable finger with 4 teeth on inner margin.

Pedipalp ( Figs. 49–54 , 128, 136 , 150 ). 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 weak and 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 with one small, thick adjacent bulge and one adjacent small posterio-dorsal tubercle and anterio-ventral tubercle absent ( Fig. 136 ). Manus elongated 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 finely granular on inner and outer surface. Both fingers scalloped deeply at the base. Trichobothrial pattern neobothriotaxic.

Legs ( Figs. 34, 35 , 39–42 , 55–58 ). Femur and patella carinated, intercarinal space densely granular on femur and sparsely granular on patella. Tarsomere I provided with two to four rows of spinules and tarsomere II with single ventral row of spinules.

Sternum, genital operculum and pectines ( Figs. 36 , 43 ). 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 middle portion. Pectine morphology of type P3 with 7/7 pectinal teeth. Mesosoma ( Figs. 34, 35 , 39–42 ). 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.

Metasoma ( Figs. 34, 35 , 39–42 , 132 , 140 ). Metasomal segments I, II and III with 5 pairs of carinae (dorsal lateral, lateral supramedian, lateral inframedian, ventral lateral and ventral submedian), segment II and III with lateral inframedian carina present only on posterior portion, metasomal segments 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. Intercarinal space with mixed granules (fine and coarse). Dorsal lateral carination on segments III and IV ending posteriorly into a short spine. Anal rim of segment V evenly crenulated. A pair of dorsolateral granules of anal rim strongly tuberculate.

Telson ( Figs. 37 , 44 ). Elongated and almost entirely smooth. A weak depression present in between vesicle and at the base of aculeus.

Hemispermatophore ♂ paratype, INHER-259 ( Figs. 59– 61 ). Lamelliform; distal basal carina (bc) with a plate like structure present, sclerotized, crown-like structure (cls) with distal margin with 5–6 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 denticulate margin; short and stout trunk; long and slender distal lamina (dl) narrow at the base and sharply bent and tapered apex. Total length 8.1 mm; pedicel 1.18 mm long; trunk 1.83 mm long; capsule 1.11 mm long; dpl length 0.31 mm; dl length 3.98 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. 34–37 , 39–48 ).

AFFINITIES. Scorpiops nagphani sp. n. is closely related to a species from Pardhadi Village, Nashik District, Maharashtra ( INDIA) and S. maharashtraensis . It is separated by a raw genetic divergence of 6.7% from a species from Pardhadi Village, Nashik District, Maharashtra ( INDIA) and 9.6% from S. maharashtraensis . The new species also differs from its close congeners based on following set of morphological characters.

Trichobothria on patella ventral 12–14 as opposed to 15– 18 in the species from Pardhadi Village, Nashik District, Maharashtra ( INDIA) and 15–17 in S. maharashtraensis ; chela length to width ratio in males 3.7–4.1 as opposed to 4.4 in a species from Pardhadi Village, Nashik District, Maharashtra ( INDIA) and 4.3–4.4 in S. maharashtraensis ; body coloration blackish brown as opposed to yellowish brown in a species from Pardhadi Village, Nashik District, Maharashtra ( INDIA) and S. maharashtraensis .

It differs from all the remaining species of Scorpiops from the northern Western Ghats and northern Maharashtra ( INDIA) by a raw genetic divergence of 10.2–13.2 % ( 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 nagphani sp. n. is known from its type locality, Nigdale

Village, near Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary, Pune District, Maharashtra, India and surrounding areas inside Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary. The type series is collected from private land around Nigdale Village. Scarce population of this species was observed around the exact type locality however dense population was observed inside the sanctuary on the hiking route to Nagphani and Sambarshingi. The species was seen in the crevices of basaltic boulders in the semi-evergreen forest patches. Dense population was observed in the boulders adjacent to the streams on the hike route to Nagphani cliff and around the route leading to the forest guest house. Interestingly specimens were also seen below the small rocks placed along the hike route to Sambarshingi. 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. 63, 64 , 153 ).

Figures

Figure 33. Scorpiops nagphani sp. n., female, paratype BNHS SC 256 in vivo habitus.

Figures 34–38. Scorpiops nagphani sp. n., male, holotype, dorsal (34) and ventral (35) views, sternopectinal area (36), metasomal segment V and telson in lateral view (37) and chelicera in dorsal view (38).

Figures 39–40. Scorpiops nagphani sp. n., male, holotype in dorsal (39) and ventral (40) views under UV light.

Figures 41–44. Scorpiops nagphani sp. n., female, paratype, BNHS SC 256, in dorsal (41) ventral (42) views, sternopectinal area (43) and metasomal segment V and telson in lateral view (44).

Figures 45–48: Scorpiops nagphani sp. n. Figures 45–46. Male, holotype, carapace under white light (45) and UV fluorescence (46). Figures 47–48. Female, paratype, BHNS SC 256, carapace under white light (47) and UV fluorescence (48).

Figures 49–54. Scorpiops nagphani sp. n., male, holotype. Figures 49–54. Pedipalp chela dorsal (49), ventral (50) and dorsoexternal (51), patella external (52), dorsal (53) and ventral (54) views under UV fluorescence. Trichobothrial pattern indicated by yellow circles.

Figures 55–61. Scorpiops nagphani sp. n. Figures 55–58. Scorpiops nagphani sp. n., male, holotype, left legs I-IV, retrolateral aspect. Figures 59–61. Scorpiops nagphani sp. n., male, paratype, INHER-259, hemispermatophore internal (59), external (60) views and capsular region in internal view (61). 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 62–64. Type locality of Scorpiops nagphani sp. n., aerial view of semi-evergreen forest inside Bhimashankar wildlife sanctuary (BWLS), very close to the type locality (62), view of Kolvan waterfalls inside BWLS where the new species was observed (63) and Scorpiops nagphani sp. n., female (specimen not collected) in vivo habitus with juveniles (64).

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.