Chiromachetes parakrami, Sulakhe & Deshpande & Dandekar & Ketkar & Gowande & Padhye & Bastawade, 2020

Sulakhe, Shauri, Deshpande, Shubhankar, Dandekar, Nikhil, Ketkar, Makarand, Gowande, Gaurang, Padhye, Anand & Bastawade, Deshabhushan, 2020, Two new species of Chiromachetes (Scorpiones: Hormuridae) from the northern Western Ghats, India, Euscorpius 320, pp. 1-27 : 4-10

Chiromachetes parakrami sp. n.

( Figures 1–30 , 61 , 81–83 , Tables 1 , 4–7 )

http: //zoobank. org/urn: lsid: zoobank. org: act: 7566607F– 3C16–4002–8299–7E911CC95084

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE REPOSITORY. India, Maharashtra State, Kolhapur District, Vishalgad Road, Amba Ghat , Amba Village , 16°55'37"N 73°47'49"E ; BNHS.

TYPE MATERIAL. India, Maharashtra State, Kolhapur District, Vishalgad Road, Amba Ghat , Amba Village , 16°55'37"N 73°47'49"E, 842 m a. s. l., 1♂ (holotype, BNHS SC 179 ), 3♂ (paratypes, INHER 199 , 200 , BNHS SC 180 ), 1♀ (paratype, BNHS SC 181 ), 22 October 2019, leg. M. Ketkar & A. Marathe.

ETYMOLOGY. The specific epithet is derived from a Sanskrit word parakram, meaning act of valour, shown by the great Maratha warrior Baji Prabhu Deshpande and his army on 3 July 1660 to defend his king against the Sultanate of Bijapur, at the location named Pawan Khind (Pass), very close to the type locality. The battle of Pawan Khind is recorded in history as one of the best known “last man stands”.

DESCRIPTION (♂ holotype, measurements in Table 1 ) Coloration (in preserved condition) ( Figs. 1, 2 , 14, 15 ). Overall body color dark brownish to blackish with glossy surface. Legs yellowish brown. Telson yellow on vesicle and black on aculeus. Ventral portion of body yellowish brown. Carapace and fingers of manus blackish. Pedipalps dark brown and almost black on the carinae. Chelicera basal segment yellowish brown with black reticulation. Fingers of chelicera dark brown.

Carapace ( Figs. 7–10, 12 ). Carapace wider than long. Entire surface of carapace almost smooth with fine and sparse granulation present along the central median furrow. Median furrow distinct only on anterior portion. Posterior lateral furrow almost smooth. Posterior median furrow triangular with a shallow triangular depression. Anterior margin of carapace with deep U–shaped emargination in the middle. Lateral ocular tubercle with three pairs of lateral eyes. Carapace without carinae. Pair of median eyes situated on carapace in the proportions 1:1.5 (distance of median eyes to anterior margin: distance of median eyes to posterior margin). Margins entirely smooth.

Chelicerae ( Fig. 5 ). Fixed finger of chelicera with three large triangular denticles on inner margin. Ventral tooth of movable finger lacks denticulation. Dorsal tooth of movable finger with 3 denticles on inner margin.

Pedipalp ( Figs. 19–25 ). Pedipalps dorsoventrally flat. Femur with three (dorsal retrolateral, ventral retrolateral, median prolateral) and patella with four carinae (dorsal prolateral, ventral prolateral, dorsal retrolateral, ventral retrolateral). Intercarinal space with weak granulation. Prolateral surface of patella with large spur bearing two equal sized tubercles. Chela with five carinae (dorsal prolateral, ventral prolateral, dorsal retrolateral, median retrolateral, ventral retrolateral). Intercarinal space smooth on dorsal and ventral surface and sparsely granular on prolateral and retrolateral surface. Dentate margins of both chela fingers composed of two rows of granules. Movable finger densely granular on retrolateral and sparsely granular on prolateral surface. Trichobothrial pattern of ‘ type C’ typical of the genus. Number of trichobothria: chela dorsal (4), chela ventral (4), chela prolateral (2), chela retrolateral (15), patella dorsal (2), patella ventral (3), patella prolateral (1), patella retrolateral (13), femur dorsal (1), femur prolateral (1) and femur retrolateral (1).

Legs ( Figs. 1, 2, 6 , 10, 11 , 14, 15 ). Legs I–IV; femur carinated on anterior portion; intercarinal space with granulation; tarsomere I with four spines distally and tarsomere II with three spines distally and a few spinules at the proximal end (fig.6).

Sternum, genital operculum and pectines ( Figs. 3 , 16 ). Sternum broad, pentagonal and entirely smooth. Genital operculum with a pair of genital papillae. Posterior sclerite with slight depression on middle portion. Pectines with 7/7 pectinal teeth and 6/6 fulcra.

Mesosoma ( Figs. 1– 3 , 10, 11 , 14–16 ).All tergites smooth with median elevated portion. All sternites entirely smooth except sternite VII granular on lateral portion and with symmetrical depressions on both halves posteriorly.

Metasoma ( Figs. 1, 2, 4 , 10, 11 , 14, 15, 17 ). Metasomal segments I–IV smooth, finely punctate and with very weak carinae. Intercarinal space smooth. Ventrolateral carina on segment V strongly and densely serrated only on the posterior portion and weak on the anterior portion. Intercarinal space granular. Anal rim weakly tuberculated.

Telson ( Figs. 4 , 17 ). Pyriform, almost entirely smooth and hirsute on the ventral side. Aculeus short and strongly curved. Hemispermatophore (♂ paratype, BNHS SC 180, Figs. 26, 27 ). Lamelliform; capsular region appears to be complex and bulbous. Lamella slender and long. Single lamellar hook, curved and pointed upwards, situated distally at the base of the lamella. Lamella longer than the trunk and capsular region together. Pedicel 1.15 mm long; trunk 2.45 mm long; capsule 1.44 mm long and 1.90 mm wide; lamella 7.64 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. 1–3 , 14–16 ).

AFFINITIES. Chiromachetes parakrami sp. n. differs from all species of Chiromachetes from the northern Western Ghats by a raw genetic divergence of 7.9–9.4 % ( Table 5 ). It is also distinguished from all its congeners based on the following set of morphological characters:

1. Pectinal teeth number in males 7–9, females 6–8 as opposed to males 5–6, females 3–4 in C. tirupati , males 9–11, females 7–8 in C. fergusoni ( Tables 1–3 ).

2. Chela length to manus width ratio in males 4.3–4.4, females 3.5 as opposed to males 3.6 in C. tirupati , males 3.4 and female 3.6 in C. fergusoni , males 4.9–5.0, females 3.3–3.4 in C. ramdasswamii sp. n. ( Table 4 ).

3. Pedipalp femur length to width ratio in males 3.2–3.5, females 3.0 as opposed to males 2.5 in C. tirupati , males 2.3, females 2.6 in C. fergusoni , males 3.3–3.8, females 2.7–2.8 in C. sahyadriensis , males 3.7–4.1, females 2.6–2.9 in C. ramdasswamii sp. n. ( Table 4 ).

4. Chela length to movable finger length ratio in males 2.4– 2.6, as opposed to 2.1 in C. fergusoni , 2.7 in C. ramdasswamii sp. n. ( Table 4 ).

5. Carapace posterior median furrow triangular with a shallow triangular posterior depression as opposed to triangular with a deep triangular posterior depression in C. sahyadriensis , triangular with a horizontal and elliptical posterior depression in C. ramdasswamii sp. n. ( Figs. 12 , 42 , 62 ).

6. Ventro–lateral carina of metasoma segment V strongly and densely serrated only on the posterior portion and weak on the anterior portion as opposed to strongly and sparsely serrated in C. sahyadriensis , strongly and densely serrated in C. ramdasswamii sp. n. ( Figs.4 , 17 , 34 , 47 , 63 ).

7. Hemispermatophore with position of lamellar hook distal and shape of distal lamella slender and long as opposed to position of lamellar hook basal and shape of distal lamella stout and short in C. ramdasswamii sp. n. ( Figs. 26, 27 , 56, 57 ).

DISTRIBUTION, HABITAT AND ECOLOGY. Presently C. parakrami sp. n. is only known from its type locality, Vishalgad Road, Amba Ghat, Amba Village, Kolhapur District, Maharashtra, India. The specimens were observed in the crevices of columnar joints of basaltic boulders in the semi–evergreen forest patches along the road. The type locality is surrounded by a mountain range with top cap laterite and withered boulders on the slopes on one side of the road and a valley facing the west on the other side. The species might be ubiquitous in similar micro habitats around, however this needs to be confirmed with further surveys. Individuals were found to be active at night sitting at the openings of very narrow rock crevices. The ecology and morphology of the new species is congruent with the lithophilic scorpions ( Figs. 28–30 ).

Figures

Figures 1–6. Chiromachetes parakrami sp. n., male, holotype, dorsal (1) and ventral (2) views, sternopectinal area (3), metasomal segment V and telson in lateral view (4), chelicera in dorsal view (5) and tarsi IV (6).

Figures 7–9. Chiromachetes parakrami sp. n., male, holotype, carapace (7), anterior margin of carapace (8) and left lateral eyes in dorsal view (9).

Figures 10–13. Chiromachetes parakrami sp. n., male, holotype in dorsal (10) and ventral (11) views, carapace (12) and dentition on movable finger of chela (13) under UV fluorescence.

Figures 14–18. Chiromachetes parakrami sp. n., female, paratype, BNHS SC 181, in dorsal (14) ventral (15) views, sternopectinal area (16), metasomal segment V and telson in lateral view (17) and carapace (18).

Figures 19–27: Chiromachetes parakrami sp. n. Figures 19–25. Male, holotype, pedipalp chela dorsal (19), external (20) and ventral (21) views, patella dorsal (22), ventral (23) and external (24) views and femur dorsal (25) view. Trichobothrial pattern indicated by yellow circles. Figures 26–27. Male, paratype, BNHS SC 180, right hemispermatophore in internal (26) and external (27) views.Abbreviations: p, pedicel; t, trunk; c, capsule; h, hook; dl, distal lamina.

Figures 28–30. Type locality of Chiromachetes parakrami sp. n., view of the dense semi–evergreen forest and mountains of Amba Ghat (28), view of the Amba Ghat road with adjacent boulders (29) and columnar basaltic bounder at the type locality from where the type series is collected (30).

Figures: 61–63. Figure 61. Distribution of Chiromachetes in India.Figures 62–63. Chiromachetes sahyadriensis, male, INHER 172, carapace under UV light (62) and metasomal segment V and telson in lateral view (63).

Figures 81–82. Figure 81. Discriminant function analyses projection on first two factor planes explaining 96.85% of variation among the five species.Abbreviations:Circlecells (males), Squarecells (females).Figure 82. Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic tree (ML) for Chiromachetes from northern Western Ghats of India. Values along the nodes are bootstraps for 1000 iterations.

Figure 83. Bayesian phylogenetic tree for Chiromachetes from northern Western Ghats of India. Values along the nodes are Bayesian posterior probabilities for Bayesian Inference and Bayesian Poisson Tree Process (bPTP), respectively.

Figures 40–43. Chiromachetes ramdasswamii sp. n., male, holotype in dorsal (40) and ventral (41) views, carapace (42) and dentition on movable finger of chela (43) under UV fluorescence.

Figure 31–36. Chiromachetes ramdasswamii sp. n., male, holotype, dorsal (31) and ventral (32) views, sternopectinal area (33), metasomal segment V and telson in lateral view (34), chelicera in dorsal view (55) and tarsi IV (36).

Figures 44–48. Chiromachetes ramdasswamii sp. n., female, paratype, BNHS SC 184, in dorsal (44) ventral (45) views, sternopectinal area (46), metasomal segment V and telson in lateral view (47) and carapace (48).

Figures 49–57: Chiromachetes ramdasswamii sp. n. Figures 49–55. Male, holotype, pedipalp chela dorsal (49), external (50) and ventral (51) views, patella dorsal (52), ventral (53) and external (54) views and femur dorsal (55) view. Trichpobothrial pattern indicated by yellow circles. Figures 56–57. Male, paratype, INHER 254, right hemispermatophore in internal (56) and external (57) views. Abbreviations: p, pedicel; t, trunk; c, capsule; h, hook; dl, distal lamina.