Charinus bruneti Teruel & Questel, 2011

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 : 21-22

Charinus bruneti Teruel & Questel, 2011

Fig. 12 ; Table 1

Charinus bruneti Teruel & Questel, 2011: 15–18 , figs 1–4;

Charinus bruneti – Teruel & Questel 2015: 46–47 — Miranda et al. 2016b: 555, 557.

Diagnosis

Based on the description of Teruel & Questel (2011), this species may be separated from other Caribbean and Central American Charinus by means of the following combination of characters: median eyes, median ocular tubercle, and lateral eyes well developed; pedipalp femur with four dorsal spines and three ventral spines; pedipalp patella with three dorsal spines, large setiferous tubercle between spine I and distal margin and two ventral spines; pedipalp tarsus with two dorsal spines, distal spine twice as long as proximal spine; tibia of leg I with 22 articles, tarsus I with 39 articles; first tarsal article about three times as long as second; leg IV basitibia with three pseudo-articles.

Charinus bruneti is among the few species of Charinus in the Caribbean and Central America with median eyes, a character present only in C. acosta , C. aguayoi , C. martinicensis and C. miskito sp. nov. The average size of the five species is similar ( Table 1 ), but the count of 39 articles on tarsus of leg I distinguishes C. bruneti from C. acosta , C. aguayoi and C. martinicensis while the count of four dorsal spines on pedipalp femur distinguishes C. bruneti from C. miskito sp. nov.

Etymology

Patronym honoring William Brunet ( Teruel & Questel 2011).

Type material

Holotype SAINT BARTHÉLEMY • ♀; Petite Anse , Anse des Flamands; 17°55′19.64″ N, 62°52′04.96″ W; 29 Jun. 2011; K. Questel leg.; BIOECO [not examined].

Paratype SAINT BARTHÉLEMY • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; BIOECO [not examined] .

Measurements

See Table 1 .

Distribution

Known only from the type locality.

Natural history

Specimens live under rocks in wet, densely forested ravines, and can be found near termite mounds or ant nests. One individual was observed under the same rock as a juvenile Phrynus goesii Thorell, 1889 .

Remarks

Teruel & Questel (2011) mentioned the presence of secondary sexual dimorphism in C. bruneti in which the carapace and genital operculum are proportionally narrower in males than in females. This would be unique among amblypygids and a larger number of specimens should be analysed and measured to test this hypothesis, as Teruel & Questel (2011) only measured two individuals of each sex..

Figures

Fig. 12. Map plotting known distributions of species of Charinus Simon, 1892 in the Caribbean and Central America.