Barbaracurus feti, Kovařík & Lowe & Šťáhlavský & Hurre, 2019

Kovařík, František, Lowe, Graeme, Šťáhlavský, František & Hurre, Ali Abdi, 2019, Scorpions of the Horn of Africa (Arachnida, Scorpiones). Part XX. Barbaracurus feti sp. n. from Somaliland (Buthidae), Euscorpius 280 (294), pp. 1-11 : 2-10

Barbaracurus feti sp. n.

( Figs. 1–46 , Table 1 )

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank. org:act: 46E7CEF1-B844-480D-9EFA-BA3A14E4A8D0

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE DEPOSITORY. Somaliland , Rugay village, between Erigavo and Maid, 10°50’46”N 47°18’23”E, 428 m a.s.l. ; FKCP.

TYPE MATERIAL EXAMINED. Somaliland , Rugay village, between Erigavo and Maid, 10°50‘46“N 47°18‘23“E, 428 m a.s.l. (Locality No. 18 SE) , 24.VIII.2018,1 ♂ (holotype No. 1528) 1♀ 1juv. (paratypes), leg. F. Kovařík, FKCP, GLPC.

ETYMOLOGY. The specific epithet honors Victor Fet (Marshall University, USA) for his friendship and lifelong dedication to scorpions.

DIAGNOSIS. Total length of adult male 31.25 mm, adult female 38.80 mm. Coloration pale yellow to light orange, chelicerae yellow without reticulation. Pedipalp chela manus wider in male than female, chela length/width ratio 4.38 in male and 5.55 in female; proximal margins of pedipalp fingers of female straight, of male weakly undulate with very small gap with fingers closed ( Fig. 18 ); dentate margin of movable finger armed with 6 rows of granules, and a short apical row of 3 denticles ( Fig. 26 ); most proximal granule row with one external accessory granule. Pectines with 25–27 teeth in both sexes. Hemispermatophore basal lobe a short oblique lamina, length ca. half of basal width of posterior lobe. Metasoma narrow, metasoma V length/width ratio 2.52 in male and 2.66 in female; metasoma I with 10 carinae, II–IV with 8 carinae. Telson setose, bearing numerous long macrosetae and short, pointed subaculear tubercle; vesicle smooth, elongate, ellipsoidal or weakly pyriform in lateral profile, telson length/ depth ratio 3.24 in both sexes; aculeus slender, curved, shorter than vesicle.

DESCRIPTION. Total length of adults 31.25 (male) – 38.80 mm (female). Measurements of the carapace, telson, segments of the metasoma and pedipalps are given in Table 1 . Base color is pale yellow to light orange ( Figs. 1–4 ), metasoma V is dark. Chelicerae are yellow without reticulation ( Figs. 13–14 ). Sexual dimorphism minor, adult male with wider pedipalp chela than female, pedipalp chela length/width ratio 4.38 in male and 5.55 in female; pedipalps fingers are shorter in males, the fingers of females are straight, while those of males are weakly undulate proximally; no sexual difference in length and width of metasomal segments.

Pedipalp ( Figs. 15–27 ). Pedipalp mostly very sparsely hirsute, but more densely so on ventral surface of movable finger. Femur granulated, with five granulose carinae. Patella almost smooth with seven granulose carinae developed. Chela smooth with traces of carinae visible; fingers long, curved; movable finger with 6 granule rows and short apical row of 4 denticles on dentate margins, the most proximal row with one external and no internal accessory granule; fixed finger with 7 granule rows.

Carapace ( Figs. 5–6 ). Slightly trapezoidal (narrower anteriorly) and slightly longer than wide; anterior margin concave, with some short microsetae. Carination absent. Median and posterior lateral furrows wide and deep, others vestigial to absent. Tegument densely and coarsely granulose. Median eyes large and raised; four or five pairs of lateral eyes: three major ocelli aligned along each anterolateral corner, plus two minor ocelli that may be vestigial or absent.

Mesosoma ( Figs. 1–4 , 5–8 ). Tergites I–VI bear a single conspicuous median carina; tergite VII bears five well-defined carinae (median, submedians and laterals), which are long and serrate to crenulate.All tergites densely and coarsely granulose mainly on posterior parts. Sternum type 1, triangular in shape; medial depression large. Pectines extending to around a quarter of sternite V in male and a quarter of sternite IV in female. Tooth count 25–26 in male and juvenile, and 27 in female. Pectines with 3 marginal lamellae and 8–9 middle lamellae. Sternites lacking carinae, surfaces smooth and sparsely setose. Posterior margin of sternite V without smooth median patch in both sexes. Sternite VII with four well-defined carinae, which are long and serrate to crenulate.

Hemispermatophore ( Figs. 38–42 ). Flagelliform. Trunk long, narrow, gradually widening basally. Capsule short, its length measured from basal lobe only 11% of trunk length. Flagellum narrow, slightly tapered, pars recta 45% of trunk length, pars reflecta is truncated in the available material. Sperm hemiduct with 2 elongated lobes, posterior lobe longer with broad base, subtriangular with distinct carina, apex blunt; anterior lobe shorter, constricted at base, separated from posterior lobe by small notch or aperture at base. Basal lobe a short lamina, prominently projecting from convex surface of capsule, oriented along oblique, transverse axis from anterior base of posterior lobe. Lamina length is about half of the basal width of the posterior lobe, similar to the shorter laminae of B. zambonellii and B. somalicus (cf. figs. 27–28, 35– 36 in: Kovařík et al., 2018). Notably, these three allopatric species are distributed adjacently along the coastal region of the Horn of Africa.

Legs ( Figs. 9–12 ). Tarsomeres bearing two rows of macrosetae on their ventral surface and numerous macrosetae on other surfaces; bristle combs absent. Femur bearing only solitary macrosetae. Femur surface coarsely granulose, femur and patella with carinae developed. Moderate tibial spurs present on leg IV.

Metasoma and telson ( Figs. 28–35 ). Segments I–IV with granulate, completely developed carinae, segment V with carinae indicated in both sexes. The carinae are composed of minute, rounded, equal-sized, evenly spaced granules. The first metasomal segment has a total of 10 carinae, the second through fourth segments have eight carinae, and the fifth segment has five indicated carinae. All metasomal segments are very sparsely granulated. Metasoma is very sparsely hirsute. Telson smooth with only a weakly indicated ventral carina and a dense cover of long setae mainly on the ventral surface. Subaculear tubercle short and pointed. Vesicle elongate, ellipsoidal or pyriform, telson length/depth ratio 3.24 in both sexes. Aculeus slender, curved, shorter than vesicle.

Karyotype ( Figs. 43–44 ). We analyzed the male holotype. The diploid number of this specimen is 23 chromosomes. The lengths of first two chromosomes are similar and these two chromosomes correspond to the first chromosome pair that is distinctly longer (over 10% of the diploid set) than the remaining chromosomes. The third chromosome also has a distinctive length (7.67% of the diploid set) compared to the following chromosomes that gradually decrease in length from 5.23 to 1.92% of the diploid set ( Fig. 44 ). This, the third chromosome, is probably the cause of the odd diploid number in this species (2n=23) as an effect of fusions/fissions of this chromosome. These types of chromosomal rearrangements are frequently detected in buthid scorpions with holocentric chromosomes (e. g. Mattos et al., 2013). Unfortunately, we did not observed meiosis in B. feti sp. n. This is the reason why we cannot specify the possible presence of multivalent association as was already described in Barbaracurus sofomarensis (2n=22) ( Kovařík et al., 2015). These two species have similar karyotypes with different numbers of considerably longer chromosomes. In contrast to this, the karyotypes of Barbaracurus zambonellii (2n=26) and Barbaracurus somalicus (2n=36) contain higher numbers of chromosomes and all of them gradually decrease in length ( Kovařík et al., 2018).

COMMENTS ON LOCALITIES AND LIFE STRATEGY. The type locality, 18SE is rocky semi-desert ( Fig. 46 and fig. 42 in Kovařík et al., 2019). The types of Barbaracurus feti sp. n. were recorded at night during UV collecting together with Hottentotta sp. and Pandiborellius meidensis (Karsch, 1879) . The first author (F.K.) visited the locality on 24–25 August 2018 and recorded maximum daytime temperatures of 38 ºC and a minimum nighttime temperature of 32 ºC. The recorded humidity was between 20% (minimum at day) and 33% (maximum at night). More information about the locality is available in Kovařík et al. (2019).

Figures

Figures 1–4: Barbaracurus feti sp. n. Figures 1–2. Holotype male, dorsal (1) and ventral (2) views. Figures 3–4. Paratype female, dorsal (3) and ventral (4) views. Scale bar: 10 mm.

Figures 5–14: Barbaracurus feti sp. n. Figures 5, 7. Holotype male, carapace and tergites I–III (5) and sternopectinal region and sternites III–V (7). Figures 6, 8, 9–14. Paratype female, carapace and tergites I–III (6), sternopectinal region and sternite III (8), distal segments of right legs I–IV, retrolateral views (9–12), left chelicera, dorsal (13) and ventral (14) views.

Figures 15–27: Barbaracurus feti sp. n. Figures 15–16. Paratype female. Pedipalp chela, dorsal (15), and external (16) views. Figures 17–27. Holotype male. Pedipalp chela, dorsal (17), external (18), and ventrointernal (19) views.Pedipalp patella, dorsal (20), external (21), and ventral (22) views. Pedipalp femur and trochanter, internal (23), ventral (24) and dorsal (25) views. Pedipalp chela, movable (26) and fixed (27) fingers dentate margin. The trichobothrial pattern is indicated in Figures 16–21, 23, and 25 (white circles).

Figures 28–35: Barbaracurus feti sp. n. Figures 28, 30–32. Holotype male, metasoma V and telson lateral view (28), metasoma and telson, lateral (30), dorsal (31) and ventral (32) views. Figures 29, 33–35. Paratype female, metasoma V and telson lateral view (29), metasoma and telson, lateral (33), dorsal (34) ventral and sternite VII (35) views. Scale bar: 10 mm (30–32, 33–35).

Figures 36–37: Barbaracurus feti sp. n., in vivo habitus. Male holotype (36) and female paratype (37).

Figures 38–44: Barbaracurus feti sp. n. Figures 38–42: Right hemispermatophore of male holotype. Figure 38. Whole hemispermatophore, convex view. Scale bar: 1 mm. Figures 39–42. Capsule in convex compressed (39), convex (40), anterior (41) and posterior (42) views. Scale bar: 500 μm. Figures 43–44: Mitotic metaphase (43) and ideogram (44) (y axis - % of the chromosome length of the diploid set, lines indicate min.-max. values) of male holotype. Arrows show one extra large odd chromosome. Scale bar: 5 μm.

Figures 45–46: Figure 45. Map showing confirmed distribution of Barbaracurus spp. For exact position of Rugay village, the type locality of Barbaracurus feti sp. n. see fig. 84 in Kovařík et al., 2019. Figure 46. Barbaracurus feti sp. n., type locality.