Stenohya pengae, Hu, Jun-Fang & Zhang, Feng, 2012

Hu, Jun-Fang & Zhang, Feng, 2012, Description of two new Stenohya species from China (Pseudoscorpiones, Neobisiidae), ZooKeys 213, pp. 79-91 : 80-83

Stenohya pengae sp. n. Figs 1 –810– 18

Type material.

Holotype male (Ps.-MHBU-GX110521), China: Guangxi Province, Nanning City, Daming Mountain [23°08'N, 108°17'E], alt. 1250 m, 21 May 2011, Yan-qiu Peng leg. Tree-crown layer of Castanopsis fabri . Paratypes: 17 males and 25 females, same data as for holotype.

Etymology.

The specific name is a patronym in honour of Ms Yan-qiu Peng, who collected the specimens.

Diagnosis.

Movable cheliceral finger with one seta; movable chelal finger with 45-47 teeth; male pedipalpal chela 4.58-4.64 (female 4.09-4.25) times longer than broad; trichobothrium it halfway between est and et.

Description of male

(Fig. 1). Colour mostly dark brown, pedipalps and legs reddish brown. Setae of body straight and acicular.

Carapace (Fig. 2) smooth, longer than broad, with a total of 34-36 setae, including 8 on anterior margin and 8 on posterior margin; paired lyrifissures near the eyes and posterior margin; epistome small and triangular; 4 eyes, anterior pair with well developed lens, posterior pair with weak lens.

Abdomen. Pleural membrane granulate. Tergal chaetotaxy: 6: 8: 8-10: 10-12: 10-11: 11-12: 11-12: 10-11: 10-11: 9-11: 6-8: 2, including at least 4 tactile setae on tergites V–XI. Anterior genital operculum (Fig. 16) with 23-24 setae; posterior genital sternite with 12-14 scattered setae and 2 lyrifissures;. chaetotaxy of remaining sternites ( IV–XI) 20-22: 22-24: 22-24: 20-24: 18-20: 19-22: 15-18: 8-10: 2, sternites VI–VIII (Fig. 14) with 13-15 medial discal setae.

Pedipalps (Fig. 4) smooth; apex of coxa rounded and with 5 setae; lateral face of coxa with 3-5 ordinary lyrifissures near margin of foramen, plus 1-3 dorsally and 2 curved posterior maxillary lyrifissures. Venom apparatus present only in fixed chelal finger, venom duct very short. Femur straight; patella claviform and internal face with a tubercle at base. Trichobothrial pattern (Fig. 8): eb and esb situated near base of finger, grouped very closely with ib and isb; est, et and it grouped together near finger tip; ist nearer to it than to isb; b and sb situated closer to each other in basal half, st and t close to each other in distal half of movable finger. Fixed chelal finger with 70-74 pointed teeth of unequal length, movable finger with about 45-47 teeth, which are pointed and of slightly unequal length in distal part, rounded in middle part and low in basal part, all teeth contiguous.

Chelicera (Fig. 3). Palm with 7 setae (only one male with 7 on left and 8 on right cheliceral palm), movable finger with 1 sub-medial seta; fixed finger with 13-14 teeth; movable finger with 6-7 teeth; serrula exterior with 40-43 lamellae; serrula interior with 30-32 lamellae; galea (Fig. 10) elongated and divided into two main branches, each branch secondarily divided into 2 terminal branchlets; rallum (Fig. 13) of 6 blades, all blades with anteriorly-directed spinules except the basal-most blade, distalmost blade somewhat widened at its base and distinctly shorter than second blade.

Leg IV (Fig. 7). Tibia with 4 tactile setae (TS 0.14-0.26, 0.30-0.48, 0.62-0.74 and 0.86-0.96), basitarsus with 4 tactile setae (TS 0.13-0.15, 0.25-0.42, 0.62-0.67 and 0.84-0.87), telotarsus with 3 tactile setae (TS 0.10-0.14, 0.27-0.36 and 0.51-0.63). Subterminal setae bifurcate, dorsal branch also terminally bifurcate; arolium not divided, shorter than claws, which are slender and simple.

Dimensions (in mm) and ratios (in parentheses).Body length 3.3-3.6. Carapace 1.05 –1.10/0.82– 0.85 (1.28-1.29); diameter of anterior eye 0.10-0.11; diameter of posterior eye 0.10-0.12. Pedipalps: trochanter 0.60 –0.70/0.25– 0.32 (2.19-2.40), femur 1.80 –1.90/0.25– 0.28 (6.79-7.20), patella 1.75 –1.85/0.28– 0.30 (6.17-6.25), chela (with pedicel) 2.38 –2.55/0.52– 0.55 (4.58-4.64), chela (without pedicel) 2.18-2.40 (4.19-4.36), hand length (without pedicel) 0.95-1.05 (1.83-1.91), movable finger length 1.35-1.40 (1.33-1.42 times longer than hand without pedicel). Chelicera 0.55 –0.60/0.30– 0.32 (1.83-1.88), movable finger length 0.35-0.44. Leg I: femur 0.85 –0.87/0.14– 0.18 (4.83-6.07), patella 0.55 –0.58/0.13– 0.15 (3.87-4.23), tibia 0.60 –0.65/0.10– 0.11 (5.91-6.00), basitarsus 0.45 –0.48/0.09– 0.10 (4.80-5.00), telotarsus 0.50 –0.52/0.09– 0.10 (5.20-5.56). Leg IV: femur + patella 1.45 –1.55/0.22– 0.24 (6.46-6.59), tibia 1.10 –1.15/0.13– 0.15 (7.67-8.46), basitarsus 0.55 –0.58/0.08– 0.10 (5.80-6.88), telotarsus 0.65 –0.70/0.08– 0.10 (7.00-8.13).

Description of female.

Like male, except as follows. Carapace with a total of 30-34 setae, including 6 setae on anterior margin and 6-8 setae on posterior margin. Tergal chaetotaxy: 6-10: 8-10: 9-10: 10-12: 11-12: 10-12: 11-13: 12-15: 11-13: 11-13: 6-8: 2, including at least 4 tactile setae on tergites IV–XI. Anterior genital sternite (Fig. 18) with 16-18 small marginal setae and 2 lyrifissures; posterior genital sternite with 28-32 marginal setae and 2 lyrifissures; chaetotaxy of remaining sternites ( IV–XI) 24-30: 23-27: 22-26: 19-22: 20-21: 17-20: 15-19: 7-8: 2, sternites VI–VIII (Fig. 17) with a pair of medial discal setae, clearly longer than marginal setae.

Pedipalps. Lateral face of coxa with 3-5 ordinary lyrifissures at margin of foramen, plus 0-3 at dorsal margin and 2 curved lyrifissures; fixed chelal finger with 66-79 teeth, movable finger with about 45-55 contiguous teeth which are pointed and of slightly unequal length in distal half, rounded and low in basal half.

Chelicera. Palm with 7 setae (two females with 8 on left and 7 on right cheliceral palm, one female with 6 on left and 7 on right palm), movable finger with 1 sub-medial seta; serrula exterior with 34-36 lamellae; serrula interior with 28-33 lamellae; galea (Fig. 11) elongate and divided into three main branches, two of which are secondarily divided into 2 terminal branchlets; rallum (Fig. 12) of 8 blades.

Dimensions (in mm) and ratios. Body length ca. 3.9-5.0. Carapace 0.95 –1.00/0.80– 0.85 (1.15-1.28); diameter of anterior eye 0.11-0.13; diameter of posterior eye 0.12-0.14. Pedipalps: trochanter 0.53 –0.55/0.25– 0.30 (1.83-2.12), femur 1.40 –1.45/0.24– 0.28 (5.18-5.83), patella 1.10 –1.15/0.28– 0.30 (3.83-3.93), chela (with pedicel) 2.25 –2.33/0.53– 0.57 (4.09-4.25), chela (without pedicel) 2.10-2.18 (3.82-3.96), hand length (without pedicel) 0.85-0.95 (1.60-1.67), movable finger length 1.17-1.20 (1.26-1.38 times longer than hand without pedicel). Chelicera 0.70 –0.75/0.35– 0.40 (1.88-2.00), movable finger length 0.45-0.50. Leg I: femur 0.70 –0.80/0.13– 0.14 (5.38-5.71), patella 0.45 –0.50/0.13– 0.14 (3.46-3.57), tibia 0.50 –0.55/0.09– 0.10 (5.50-5.56), basitarsus 0.35 –0.37/0.08– 0.09 (4.11-4.38), telotarsus 0.43 –0.45/0.09– 0.10 (4.50-4.78). Leg IV: femur + patella 1.30 –1.40/0.23– 0.24 (5.65-5.83), tibia 1.10 –1.15/0.13– 0.14 (8.21-8.46), basitarsus 0.50 –0.55/0.08– 0.10 (5.50-6.25), telotarsus 0.60 –0.65/0.08– 0.10 (6.50-7.50).

Distribution.

This species is known only from the type locality.

Remarks.

Three Stenohya species have been previously recorded from China: Stenohya chinacavernicola Schawaller, 1995, Stenohya curvata Zhao et al., 2011 and Stenohya xiningensis Zhao et al., 2011. Stenohya pengae sp. n. can easily be separated from these species by its extremely slender pedipalpal segments, 4 well-developed eyes, the absence of a spine at the base of the male chelal hand, and the presence of medial discal setae on male sternites VI–VIII only.

The new species resembles Stenohya martensi (Schawaller, 1987) in having slender pedipalps, but it can be distinguished from the latter by the movable cheliceral finger having only one seta (two in Stenohya martensi ), the movable chelal finger with 45-47 teeth (more than 80 in Stenohya martensi ) and the male pedipalpal chela 4.58-4.64 times longer than broad (6.2 times in Stenohya martensi ). Stenohya caelata (Callaini, 1990) and Stenohya kashmirensis (Schawaller, 1988) differ from Stenohya pengae sp. n. in having granules on the pedipalpal femur and patella, and the cheliceral palm with 5 or 6 setae. The new species can be easily distinguished from Stenohya mahnerti Schawaller, 1994, Stenohya hamata (Leclerc and Mahnert, 1988) and Stenohya gruberi ( Ćurčić, 1983) by the more slender pedipalpal femur and patella. Stenohya heros (Beier, 1943) has less slender pedipalp in female (femur 4.5 vs. 5.18-5.83 times, patella 3.2 vs. 3.83-3.93, chela (with pedicel) 3.3 vs. 4.09-4.25, movable finger 1.0 vs. 1.26-1.38 times longer than hand without pedicel). Stenohya vietnamensis Beier, 1967 and Stenohya lindbergi (Beier, 1959) were both described from nymphs, but Stenohya vietnamensis lacks an epistome and Stenohya lindbergi has more teeth (78) on the movable chelal finger.

Specimens of Stenohya pengae were found on the leaves of Castanopsis fabri , which represents an exceptional habitat for Neobisiidae . Neobisiidae generally live in leaf litter and soil, under rock, bark and in caves, although they have sometimes been found climbing young trees and shrubs (Weygoldt, 1969). Fourty-one specimens of Stenohya pengae were collected by sweeping trees of Castanopsis fabri with an entomological net; only two were found on stone steps and these might have been dislodged from the trees. The collector also examined the tree bark and leaf litter around the trees, without finding any specimens of Stenohya pengae .

Approximately 100 pseudoscorpion specimens were collected from Fujian and Guangdong provinces were extracted by beating shrubs, of which 74 (including 4 protonymphs, 2 deutonymphs, 11 tritonymphs and 57 adults) belong to the genus Geogarypus Chamberlin, 1930 (family Geogarypidae Chamberlin, 1930) and 22 tritonymphs belong to the genus Bisetocreagris Ćurčić, 1983 (family Neobisiidae ). All of the Stenohya pengae specimens were adults. Adis and Mahnert et al. (1988) found that Brazilatemnus browni Muchmore was bivoltine, with one generation occuring in the trunk/canopy habitat in April/May (during forest inundation) and the second in the forest floor in November/December (non-inundation period). It might therefore be interesting to look for Stenohya pengae in both habitats at different times of the year.