Zaragozachthonius, Gardini, 2020

Gardini, Giulio, 2020, Zaragozachthonius (Pseudoscorpiones, Chthoniidae), a new genus with species in Italy and the Balkan peninsula, Zootaxa 4894 (4), pp. 535-548 : 536

Genus Zaragozachthonius n. gen.

Diagnosis. Genus of the tribe Chthoniini with fusiform chelal hand constricted between trichobothria ib-isb and base of fixed finger, base of hand abruptly constricted paraxially; hand without distoventral hollow; distal end of hand and bases of chelal fingers with strongly sclerotized condylar complex, without medial protuberance between chelal condyles; proximal portion of hand with 4 setae in adults and tritonymphs (ph 3 present); fixed chelal finger straight in lateral view; axis of fixed chelal finger apically forming a widely obtuse angle; chelal fingers with closeset teeth, distinctly reclined backwards; distal row of fixed chelal finger without a modified subdistal tooth (mt); tip of fixed chelal finger of both sexes with an antiaxial accessory tooth (td) and with a weak hollow on paraxial face, without subdistal protuberance (sp); base of movable chelal finger with an enlarged sclerotized condyle (bc), internal proximal apodeme (ap) well developed; trichobothrium sb closer to b than to st; coupled sensilla pc at level of sb or between sb and b; antiaxial lyrifissures (ma 1, ma 2) of movable chelal finger present. Coxae II and III with coxal spines arranged in rounded patches; bisetose intercoxal tubercle present between coxae III and IV; distal marginal seta of pedipalpal coxa (dps) distinctly longer than that (dcs) of coxa I; in addition to the stigmatal setae, sternite III in both sexes with 8–10 posterior setae, of which the lateral one (ls) on each side is reduced in size. Male genitalia without a median hiatus (mh) between setae of each row of guard–setae (gs).

Type species. Zaragozachthonius siculus n. sp.

Etymology. The genus is dedicated to Juan Antonio Zaragoza (Alicante, Spain) in recognition of his great contribution to the knowledge of Mediterranean pseudoscorpions. The generic name is the union of the surname Zaragoza and Chthonius , a typical suffix within the Chthonioidea. It is masculine in gender.

Distribution. Italy (Apennines, Sicily), Republic of North Macedonia.

Remarks. With reference to the 17 characters useful to distinguish the nine Chthonius –related genera (with coxal spines on coxae II and III) listed by Zaragoza (2017: 19, table 1), Zaragozachthonius n. gen. shares with Chthonius all characters but the presence of an antiaxial accessory tooth (td) on the tip of the fixed chelal finger (td absent in Chthonius ), and the presence of a strongly sclerotized condylar complex on the base of movable chelal finger (condylar complex absent in Chthonius ). Zaragozachthonius n. gen. shares with Globochthonius all char-acters—also the position of coupled sensilla pc on movable chelal finger (1)—but the presence of chelal hand with fusiform facies (lagyniform facies in Globochthonius ) and the absence of a dorso–paraxial hump at the base of chelal hand (hump present in Globochthonius ). Concerning the chelal fingers dentition, only a few species of Globochthonius have teeth that are more or less close-set, distinctly reclined backwards, as Globochthonius abnormis (Dumitresco and Orghidan, 1964) or G. vandeli (Beier, 1939) ( Ćurčić 1974) .

To facilitate identification, Zaragozachthonius n. gen. is compared with the other Chthonius –related genera and differences are reported in the following key.

(1) Gardini (2010: 57) erroneously wrote that coupled sensilla pc (as p 1) in Globochthonius globifer (Simon, 1879) are situated mainly between trichobothria sb and st, rarely near or just distad of sb: they were correctly given on page 56 ( Figs 7–8 ) between b -sb.

Figures

FIGURES 1–7. Zaragozachthonius siculus n. sp. 1–2,Anterior margin of carapace of ♀ holotype (1) and ♂ paratype, 21.X.2019 (2). 3, Carapace of ♀ holotype. 4, Right chelicera of ♀ holotype, dorsal view. 5–6, Right chelal hand of ♀ holotype (5) and ♂ paratype, 21.X.2019 (6), dorsal view. 7, Tip of fixed chelal finger of ♀ holotype, dorsal view.

FIGURES 8–9. Zaragozachthonius siculus n. sp. 8–9, Right chela of ♀ holotype (8) and ♂ paratype, 21.X.2019 (9), antiaxial view.