Oligowithius Beier, 1936

Romero-Ortiz, Catalina, Sarmiento, Carlos E. & Harvey, Mark S., 2023, A new genus and five new species of pseudoscorpions (Arachnida, Pseudoscorpiones, Withiidae) from Colombia, ZooKeys 1184, pp. 301-326 : 301

Genus Oligowithius Beier, 1936 stat. nov.

Dolichowithius (Oligowithius) Beier, 1936: 447.

Type species.

Dolichowithius (Oligowithius) abnormis Beier, 1936, by monotypy.

Diagnosis.

The genus Oligowithius can be distinguished from other Neotropical withiid genera by the presence of a patch of glandular setae on sternites VII and VIII either in one or two small circular patches in the middle of the sternites, the distal position of the tactile setae on tarsus IV, the presence of two non-corneate eyes, and the trichobothria it and isb located far apart. Moreover, the male genitalia are characterized by a pair of lateral apodemes that are not merged with the dorsal apodemes (Fig. 11 ).

Remarks.

Beier (1936) described four new species of pseudoscorpions from the Caribbean islands of Bonaire, Curaçao and Aruba, and from Venezuela. Among them was Dolichowithius (Oligowithius) abnormis Beier, 1936 which represented the type species of the newly described subgenus Dolichowithius Oligowithius Beier, 1936. Unfortunately, the description was very short and the justification for the subgenus was limited. The holotype and only known specimen of D. (O.) abnormis cannot be traced in Naturalis Center, Amsterdam (Dr Bram van der BIjl, in litt. 10 July 2019) or the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna (Dr Christoph Hörweg, in litt. 9 July 2019), which renders the status of the species and subgenus difficult to assess. We have studied three specimens of an unusual, small withiid from Colombia that closely resembles D. (O.) abnormis in the morphology of the male glandular setae and in the positions of the trichobothria. We found sufficient differences between these specimens and the description of D. abnormis to consider it as a new species. We also found sufficient differences between the new species from Colombia and species of Dolichowithius to warrant the elevation of Oligowithius to full genus level. The differences between Dolichowithius and Oligowithius are as follows: patch of glandular setae on sternites VII and VIII in Oligowithius and on sternites VII-IX in Dolichowithius , trichobothria isb and it far apart in Oligowithius and close together in Dolichowithius , and the male genitalia with a pair of lateral apodemes that are not merged with the dorsal apodemes in Oligowithius , while they are merged in Dolichowithius .

Figures

Figure 11. Light micrograph of male genitalia of Oligowithius achagua sp. nov. (holotype, ICN-Aps- 388). Scale bar: 100 µm.