Neoscotolemon pictipes
Creators: name: Pérez-González, Abel
name: Mamani, Vanesa
name: Proud, Daniel N.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Opiliones
Neoscotolemon
Neoscotolemon pictipes

description: Neoscotolemon pictipes (Banks, 1908)
(Figs 1–6, Table 1)
Scotolemon pictipes Banks 1908: 38, fig. 3; 1909: 171.
Neoscotolemon pictipes: Roewer 1912a: 150; 1923: 113, fig. 113 a, b; Goodnight & Goodnight 1942a: 4; Rambla 1980: 2; Kury 2003: 26.
Type material. Holotype: ♀ (MCZ 26121, examined), CUBA, near Havana, C.F. Baker leg.
Other material examined. CUBA: 6 ♂ (one photo voucher and one SEM voucher), 9 ♀ (one photo voucher and one SEM voucher) (MACN-Ar 46949), Artemisa, San Antonio de los Baños, forest next to Ariguanabo River [22.89538°, -82.502977°], 15-Jan-2011, A. Pérez-González, A. L. Carbajal de la Fuente & L. F. de Armas leg. • 1 ♂, 2 ♀, (CZACC), Artemisa, San Antonio de los Baños, marginal forest of Ariguanabo River, 4-May-1984, L. F. Armas leg.
Comparative diagnosis. Neoscotolemon pictipes can be distinguished from the rest of the species in the genus by the coarse granulation of the mesotergal areas, free tergites, and anal operculum, which lack any notably pointed tubercles (Figs 1A, C; 2A, B, D, F; 6A, B, D, E, G, H). Neoscotolemon pictipes can also be easily separated from N. armasi spec. nov. by the absence of a pseudochela in the pedipalp tarsus of males (Fig. 3A, B vs. Fig. 8E). In N. pictipes, the wide calyx in the penis ventral plate, dorsally open and with a pair of wings (Fig. 5B, F), distinguishes it from N. cotilla which has a narrow and reduced calyx, without wings (Fig. 20A, B).
Redescription. Male (MACN-Ar 46949). Body measurements: Total body length 2.60, carapace length 0.96, scutum magnum length 2.25, carapace maximum width 1.40, abdominal scutum maximum width 1.94. Appendage measurements in Table 1.
Dorsum: Outline slightly hourglass-shaped with an Eta (η) shape, with a constriction slightly posterior to eye level (Figs 1A; 2A). Carapace with scattered granules, wider than long, with a rounded and marked frontal hump; anterior border slightly convex, each lateral corner with two or three small granules (Fig. 2A). Cheliceral sockets not marked (Fig. 2A). Eyes separated, slightly posterior to the medial region of the carapace, located at the base of a poorly defined ocularium with a wide base and apically armed with a long, forward-slanted spiniform apophysis; ocularium extends from the posterior of the carapace to just before the frontal hump (Figs 1C; 2A, D). Abdominal scutum in lateral view convex (Figs 1C; 2D). Sulcus I deep and well-marked, in dorsal view, curved to the posterior body region (Fig. 2A, D). Mesotergal areas coarsely granulated and not well defined (Fig. 2A). Mesotergal areas I–II with larger medial conical setiferous granules (Fig. 2A, D); mesotergal areas III–IV with two rows of larger conical setiferous granules, medial granules slightly longer than lateral granules (Fig. 2A, D). Mesotergal area V with two rows of small conical setiferous granules (Fig. 2A, D). Lateral borders with two rows of granules, the inner row consisting of setiferous granules (Fig. 2A, D). Ozopore with an oval, narrow, and elongated orifice with a descending channel that extends toward the posterior region (Fig. 2E). Free tergites granulated; with two rows of setiferous granules, granules of posterior row longer than anterior row; free tergite I–II with medial setiferous granules slightly longer and more conical than lateral granules (Fig. 2A, D, F).
Venter: Coxae I–IV with setae and small granules; coxa I with setiferous granules (Fig. 2B); anteroposterior borders of coxa III with a row of strong granules connecting with coxae II and IV, respectively (Fig. 2B, C). Posterior border of the spiracular area and free sternites I–IV with a row of setiferous granules; free sternite V and anal operculum with several conspicuous setiferous granules (Fig. 2B, D, F, G). Spiracles not concealed (Fig. 2B).
Chelicerae: Basichelicerite unarmed, with an elongated and slightly marked bulla (Fig. 3E, F). Cheliceral hand with sparse setae and small frontal setiferous granules (Fig. 3E–G). Movable finger with a medio-distal lamina bearing sub-square teeth; fixed finger with a proximal conical tooth (Fig. 3G).
Pedipalps: Coxa elongated (i.e., remarkably longer than trochanter), proximally with one dorsomesal and one ventroectal setiferous granule (Fig. 1A, B). Trochanter rounded, with three dorsal and one mesal pointed setiferous tubercles, plus three ventral pointed setiferous tubercles (Fig. 3A, B). Femur dorsally convex; ventrally armed with a row of six small ectal setiferous pointed tubercles, with the fifth distal tubercle being longest (Fig. 3B); ventroproximally with two long spines, fused at the base; mesal surface with a medial spine followed by one setiferous pointed tubercle (Fig. 3A, B). Patella short, ventrodistally with one mesal spine and one ectal setiferous pointed tubercle (Fig. 3A, B). Tibia ventromesally with three spines, increasing in size from proximal to distal (Fig. 3A); ventroectally with one proximal spine, followed by one setiferous pointed tubercle and two spines fused at the base, the longest spine featuring a socket with an apical square-shaped projection (Fig. 3B); ventral surface with several small granules (Fig. 3A). Tarsus remarkably elongated, incrassate, and ventrally flattened (Fig. 3A, B); ventromesally with one proximal setiferous pointed tubercle, followed by a row of five spines, the second and fifth spines being the largest (Fig. 3A); ventroectally with three spines interspersed with two setiferous pointed tubercles (Fig. 3B). Claw short, robust, and triangular (compared with females one) (Fig. 3A–C). Setae of spines covered with microtrichia (Fig. 3D).
Legs: Coxae II and IV with setiferous granules on dorsolateral surface (Fig. 2A, D). Femurs I–IV with one retrolateral and one prolateral longitudinal row of ventral setiferous conical tubercles (Fig. 4A). Metatarsus III in lateral view rectangular, swollen at calcaneus region (Figs 4A, B; 6I); calcaneus occupies the distal region of the metatarsus, ventrally with rounded trichomes and some lateral sensilla chaetica flanking the calcaneus (Fig. 4B, C, E); apical region of calcaneus with a high concentration of acuminate trichomes densely covering numerous aggregated pores (glandular openings) (Fig. 4C, D). Tarsi III–IV without scopula and modified spatulate setae (Fig. 4F). Tarsal formula: 4(2):7–8(3):5:5.
Color (specimen preserved in 80% ethanol): General body appearance dark brown; carapace and appendages light yellowish-brown and with dark brown reticulations; coloration at the chelicerae insertion level is lighter, creating a false appearance of a marked cheliceral socket (Fig. 1A); lateral margin of abdominal scutum with the outer line dark brown and the inner line yellowish-brown (Fig. 1A); abdominal scutum, mesotergal area V, and free tergites dark brown (Fig. 1A); coxae I–IV yellowish-brown and with dark brown reticulations; posterior border of stigmatic area, free sternites, and anal operculum dark brown (Fig. 1B).
Genitalia: General shape of penis tubular, with a blunt rectangular apex (Fig. 5A, C); boundary poorly defined between pars basalis and pars distalis (Fig. 5A, C). Pars distalis with a ventral plate ending in a deep calyx; calyx dorsally open with two thin laminar projections (wings) (Fig. 5 B, F, J); dorsally, pars distalis with a medial deep neckline (Fig. 5B, F). Pars distalis armed with two groups of macrosetae bilaterally arranged: a basal row of four pairs (B1–B4) extending along the edge, from the dorsal neckline to the ventrolateral region (Fig. 5B, F), and an apical row of three pairs (A1–A3) located on the ventrolateral region of the calyx (Fig. 5D, E, G, H). Capsula externa with follis invaginated and not visible in resting position (Fig. 5B, F). Capsula interna with two laminar conductors, arrow-shaped apically (i.e., medially pointed and with two lateral projections) (Fig. 5B, C, F, I); conductors flank a shorter laminar pointed stylus (Fig. 5B, D, F, J).
Female (holotype, MCZ 26171; MACN-Ar 46949). Body measurements: Total body length 2.98, carapace length 0.74, scutum magnum length 1.92, carapace maximum width 1.20, abdominal scutum maximum width 1.89. Appendage measurements in Table 1. Female resembles male in the armature of the scutum magnum, but with granules slightly smaller (Fig. 6A, B, D, E v s. Fig. 6G, H). Female also differs from male by having a shorter pedipalp, with smaller spines; trochanter of pedipalp with a small dorsal tubercle; tarsus of pedipalp not elongated and enlarged, armed with four ventromesal spines and ventroectally with one setiferous tubercle between the two most distal spines; claw elongated, thin, and highly pointed (Fig. 6B, E). Metatarsus III not swollen, lacking aggregated pores and associated setae, and without the deep intrusion of the astragalum by the calcaneus (Figs 4G, H; 6C, F vs. Figs 4C; 6I). Tarsal formula 4(2):7(3):5:5.
Distribution. The only precise locality known for this species is the marginal forest of the Ariguanabo River in San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa, Cuba (Fig. 39).
Spurious Record: Cuba, Pinar del Río, North of Viñales, September 16, 1913, F. E. Lutz (AMNH, examined) (Goodnight & Goodnight 1942a). This specimen is a female and belongs to an undescribed species (pers. obs.).
description: Published as part of Pérez-González, Abel, Mamani, Vanesa & Proud, Daniel N., 2025, On the genus Neoscotolemon (Opiliones: Laniatores: Samooidea incertae sedis) with the description of one new species, pp. 109-165 in Zootaxa 5563 (1) on pages 113-117, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5563.1.11, http://zenodo.org/record/14595849