Scorpiops telbaila, Sulakhe & Deshpande & Dandekar & Ketkar & Padhye & Bastawade, 2020

Sulakhe, Shauri, Deshpande, Shubhankar, Dandekar, Nikhil, Ketkar, Makarand, Padhye, Anand & Bastawade, Deshabhushan, 2020, A new cryptic species of Scorpiops Peters, 1861 (Scorpiones: Scorpiopidae) from the northern Western Ghats, India, Euscorpius 327, pp. 1-18 : 4-8

Scorpiops telbaila sp. n.

( Figures 1–34, 40, 46–49 , Tables 1–4)

http: //zoobank. org/urn: lsid: zoobank. org: act: D907B140- 9AA0-4572-AC3B-3853EDB431C8

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE REPOSITORY. India, Maharashtra State, Pune District, Saltar Khind Pass, near Ambawne Village , 18°34'38"N 73°21'25"E, 743 m a. s. l. ; BNHS.

TYPE MATERIAL. India, Maharashtra State, Pune District, Saltar Khind Pass, near Ambawne Village , 18°34'38"N 73°21'25"E, 743 m a. s. l., 1♂ (holotype, BNHS SC 175 ), 16 August 2019, 3♂ (paratypes, INHER-123, BNHS SC 176 , 177 ), 8 June 2020, 1♂ (paratype, INHER-223), 3♀ (paratypes, INHER-124, 126, BNHS SC 178 ), 16 August 2019. All specimens collected by S. Sulakhe, S. Deshpande & M. Ketkar.

ETYMOLOGY. The species epithet is a noun in opposition, named after a famous hill fort “Telbaila”, used as a watch tower by Maratha warriors from India. It is located in Pune District, northern Western Ghats, very close to the type locality of the new species.

DIAGNOSIS (♂ ♀). Total length 32–50 mm. Base color uniformly dark brownish to blackish. Pectinal teeth number 6–8 in both sexes, fulcra reduced to absent. Pectines have three marginal lamellae and three middle lamellae present. Patella of pedipalp with 23–27 (5 eb, 2 esb, 2 em, 9–11 est, 5–7 et) external and 14–16 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 3.6–4.0 in males. Pedipalp movable finger with ca 55–60 IAD, which form second row, parallel with MD (ca 80 in number); there are also 4–5 ID and 11–12 OD present. Tarsomere II of legs with 4–6 stout median ventral spinules and two pairs of flanking setae. Metasoma I with ten and metasoma II–IV with eight carinae. Telson elongate and smooth, length to depth ratio 2.7–3.5; annular ring developed.

DESCRIPTION (♂ holotype, measurements in Table 1).

Coloration (in preservation) ( Figs. 2, 3 , 9, 10 ). Overall body color dark brownish to blackish. Legs uniformly brownish. Telson brownish orange on vesicle and dark brown on aculeus. Ventral portion of body yellowish brown.Carapace and fingers of manus blackish. Pedipalps dark brown, darker on carinae. Chelicera basal segment blackish brown. Fingers of chelicera dark brown.

Carapace ( Figs. 13–17 ). Anterior margin of carapace with deep emargination in the middle. Entire surface of carapace mixed with fine and coarse granules. Anterior margin of carapace with strong tuberculate granules. Lateral ocular tubercles granular with three pairs of lateral eyes. Anterior two pairs larger and third pair smaller in size. Median ocular tubercle granular on dorsal portion with a pair of median eyes situated in the ratio of 1:2.1 (ratio of median eyes to anterior margin and median eyes to posterior margin).

Chelicerae ( Fig. 6 ). 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 6 minute teeth on inner margin. Dorsal fang of movable finger with 4 teeth on inner margin.

Pedipalp ( Figs. 20–26 , 34 ). Femur and patella dorsoventrally flattened and evenly carinated. Intercarinal space finely and almost evenly granular. Internal surface of patella with one large posterio-ventral tubercle ( Fig. 19 , tubercle 1) and with one small, thick adjacent bulge, one adjacent small posteriodorsal tubercle ( Fig. 19 , tubercle 1a) and one small, anterioventral tubercle ( Fig. 19 , tubercle 2). Manus elongated, carinated and intercarinal space coarsely granular on inner and outer surface. Dorsal exterior carina evenly granular, running anteriorly up to the base of fixed finger. Both fingers with two rows of dentitions, scalloped deeply at the base. Trichobothrial pattern typical of the genus.

Legs ( Figs. 2, 3 , 7, 8 , 27–30 ). Femur and patella carinated, intercarinal space almost smooth. Tarsomere I provided with three rows of spinules and tarsomere II with single ventral row of spinules.

Sternum, genital operculum and pectines ( Figs. 4 , 11 ). 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. Pectines with 7/7 pectinal teeth.

Mesosoma ( Figs. 2, 3 , 7–10 ). All tergites finely granular, with median carina absent on segment I. Tergite VII additionally with a pair of lateral granular carina present only on half posterior portion. All sternites entirely smooth. Sternite VII finely granular only on lateral portion.

Metasoma ( Figs. 2–5 , 7–10 , 18 , 40 ). Metasomal segments I-V with 10-8-8-8-5 carinae. Intercarinal space densely granular. Dorsal carination on segments III and IV ending posteriorly into a strong tuberculate spine, more pointed on segment IV. Anal rim of segment V evenly crenulated. A pair of dorsolateral granules of anal rim weakly tuberculate.

Telson ( Figs. 5 , 12 ). Elongated and almost entirely smooth. A prominent depression present in between vesicle and at the base of aculeus.

Hemispermatophore ( Figs. 31–32 ). Lamelliform; lamina well sclerotized, curved inwardly and roundish on distal portion. Outer margin of lamina evenly notched on middle portion. Capsular portion appears to be simple and bulged. Trunk is narrow with an exterior sclerotized margin and capped with a ridge. Pedicel (foot) region short and transparent. Pedicel 0.49 mm long and 0.36 mm wide; stem 2.85 mm long and 0.22 mm wide; capsule 1.48 mm long and 0.57 mm wide; stalk 2.39 mm long and 0.78 mm wide.

SEXUAL DIMORPHISM. Male genital operculum partially exposed on posterior portion, from which a pair of small genital papillae is seen. In females, the genital operculum is separated with a median suture covering the female genital opening. Movable finger of chela in males with a curved scallop on the internal margin ( Figs 4 , 11 ).

AFFINITIES. Scorpiops telbaila sp. n. (which has trichobothrial counts on patella: 23–27 external, 14–16 ventral) differs from all other species of Scorpiops from India (which have a range of trichobothrial counts on patella 22–29 external, 12–19 ventral) by a raw genetic divergence of 5.4-14.1 % ( Table 3 ). It is also distinguished from its congeners based on the following key of morphological characters

Figures

Figures 1–6: Scorpiops telbaila sp. n. Figure 1. Female, paratype, INHER-SC-126, in vivo habitus. Figures 2–6. Male, holotype, dorsal (2) and ventral (3) views, sternopectinal area (4), metasoma V and telson in lateral view (5), and movable finger of chelicera, ventral fang, internal view (6).

Figures 7–8. Scorpiops telbaila sp. n., male, holotype in dorsal (7) and ventral (8) views under UV light.

Figures 9–12. Scorpiops telbaila sp. n., female, paratype, BNHS SC 178, in dorsal (9) and ventral (10) views, sternopectinal area (11), and metasoma V and telson in lateral view (12).

Figures 13–16: Scorpiops telbaila sp. n. Figures 13–14. Male, holotype, carapace under white (13) and UV (14) light. Figures 13–14. Female, paratype, BHNS SC 178, carapace under white (15) and UV (16) light.

Figures 17–19. Scorpiops telbaila sp. n., male, holotype, anterior margin of carapace (17), metasoma I-IV lateral (18), and pedipalp patella dorsal view with internal aspect tubercles (19) under UV light.

Figures 20–32: Scorpiops telbaila sp. n. Figures 20–26. Male, holotype, pedipalp chela dorsal (20), dorsoexternal (21, 22) and ventral (23), patella external (24), dorsal (25), and ventral (26) views. Trichobothrial pattern indicated by yellow circles. Figures 27–30. Left legs I-IV, retrolateral aspect. Figures 31–32. Male paratype, INHER-223, right hemispermatophore internal (31) and external (32) views.Abbrevations: F, foot/pedicel; T, trunk; C, capsule; S, stalk/lamina. Scale bar: 1 mm (31–32).

Figure 33. Distribution of Scorpiops species from Maharashtra (India).

Figures 34–47: Figures 34–39: Comparison of left pedipalps. Figures 40–45: Comparison of anal rim of metasoma V in dorsal view. Figures 34, 40. Scorpiops telbaila sp. n., male, holotype. Figures 35, 41. S. phaltanensis, male, holotype. Figures 36, 42. S. deccanensis, male, INHER-SC-86. Figures 37, 43. S. maharashtraensis, male, INHER-SC-180. Figures 38, 44. S. satarensis, male, INHER-SC-213. Figures 39, 45. S. tenuicauda, male, INHER-SC-214. Figures 46–47. Type locality of S. telbaila sp. n., basaltic boulder inside the dense semi-evergreen forest from where the type series is collected (46), view of Saltar khind (pass) and surrounding mountain range, exact locality of collection marked with black arrow on the image (47).

Figures 48-49: Figure 48. View of the Telbaila fort after which the new species is named Figure 49. Scorpiops telbaila sp. n. on the Telbaila fort under UV light (specimen not collected).