Charinus kakum Harms, 2018

Miranda, Gustavo Silva de, Giupponi, Alessandro P. L., Prendini, Lorenzo & Scharff, Nikolaj, 2021, Systematic revision of the pantropical whip spider family Charinidae Quintero, 1986 (Arachnida, Amblypygi), European Journal of Taxonomy 772, pp. 1-409 : 149-150

Charinus kakum Harms, 2018

Fig. 83 ; Table 6

Charinus kakum Harms, 2018: 46–50 , figs 1–5.

Diagnosis

Based in part on Harms (2018), this species may be separated from C. madagascariensis and other African species of Charinus by means of the following combination of characters: median and lateral eyes well developed; median ocular tubercle well developed; female gonopod sucker-like; cheliceral claw with five teeth; pedipalp femur with three dorsal spines and three ventral spines; pedipalp patella with three dorsal spines and two ventral spines; pedipalp tarsus with two dorsal spines; tibia of leg I with 24 articles, tarsus I with 41 articles; leg IV basitibia with three pseudo-articles; distitibia sc and sf series each with four trichobothria.

Charinus kakum differs from C. milloti in the number of teeth on the cheliceral claw, with five teeth in C. kakum and four teeth in C milloti , and from C. loko sp. nov. in the number of pseudo-articles in the basitibia of leg IV, with three articles in C. kakum and four articles in C. loko sp. nov. The number of teeth on the cheliceral claw also separates C. kakum from C. fagei , in which nine teeth are present. The unique shape of the genital plaque and female gonopod separate C. africanus from C. kakum .

Etymology

Noun in apposition taken from the type locality, Kakum National Park in Ghana ( Harms 2018).

Type material

Holotype GHANA • ♀; Central Province , Kakum National Park, track to Treehouse , under flat rock near forest floor; 05°21′21.23″ N, 01°22′55.87″ W; 13 Dec. 2017; D. Harms and B.K. Williams leg.; ZMH A893 [not examined].

Measurements

See Table 6 .

Distribution

Known only from the type locality in Kakum National Park, Ghana.

Natural history

The holotype was collected under a rock in a small rocky outcrop near a dry creek-bed, in closed-canopy primary rainforest. The female possessed a brood sac and carried seven eggs. Harms (2018) noted that this was the smallest whip spider in western Africa and might have a preference for rocky boulders in densely vegetated areas, under which it retreats. Ricinulei ( Ricinoides sp. ) and unidentified schizomids were observed at the same outcrop.

Figures

Fig. 83. Map plotting known distributions of species of Charinus Simon, 1892 in western Africa.