Orthochirus bastawadei Zambre & Mirza & Sanap & Upadhye & Maqsood Javed 2011, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Zambre, Amod M.
name: Mirza, Zeeshan A.
name: Sanap, Rajesh V.
name: Upadhye, Raman
name: Maqsood Javed, S. M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Scorpiones
Buthidae
Orthochirus
Orthochirus bastawadei

description: Orthochirus bastawadei Zambre, Mirza, Sanap,
Upadhye et Javed, sp. nov.
(Figs. 3–17)
Type material: Holotype female, INDIA: near Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) area, Jalna District, Maharashtra, India, 23 November 2009, coll. Durgesh Pangarkar (BNHS SC- 51). Paratypes: 2 males (BNHS SC- 52 and BNHS SC- 53), same data as above.
Etymology. Patronym in honor of Dr. Deshbhushan Bastawade, India for his immense contribution to the field of Indian scorpiology.
Diagnosis. A species of moderate size in relation to other species of the genus; total length 36.54 mm in the female and 31.72 mm in male. General coloration dark coffee-brown to black; fingers and legs clear yellow with black pigmentation (Figures 3–6). Pedipalps with 9 rows of denticles on the fixed and movable fingers; external accessory denticles moderate. Trichobothriotaxy A-β (beta), orthobothriotaxic. Distance between trichobothrium d 1 and d 3 less than distance between d 3 and d 4; trichobothrium e 1 in line with d 3 (Fig. 17). Complete lack of bristlecombs on legs (Figure 16). Telson almost glabrous. Metasomal segments IV and V without median carinae. Spaces among punctae on ventral surface of metasomal segments IV and V smooth. Dorsal surface of metasomal segment IV and V mesially densely granulated. Pectines six times longer than wide, with 18–19 teeth in females, 20– 20 in males (Figures 9, 11 & 13).
Orthochirus bastawadei sp. nov. can be distinguished from the mainland Indian species of this genus on the basis of the following character states: mesosoma and metasoma entirely blackish (metasomal segments are yellowish-brown in O. flavescens and O. pallidus; metasomal segments I–II are yellow and the rest black in O. bicolor); dorsal surface of metasomal segments mesially with granulation arranged in a distinct stripe (nearly smooth or with sparse granulation not arranged in a distinct stripe in O. pallidus); bristlecombs on legs I–III absent (bristlecombs on legs I–III present in O. fuscipes, O. bicolor, O. pallidus, O. krishnai). Pectinal teeth 18–19 (female) and 20-20 (male) in number [23-23 (male) and 22-22 (female) in O. krishnai; 16-16 (female) in O. pallidus]. For more details, see Table 2.
Description based on female holotype BNHS SC - 51: Measurements in Table 1.
Coloration (in alcohol). Carapace, mesosoma and metasoma black; telson reddish black with black aculeus; pedipalps dark brown to black, fingers yellow. Legs are pale yellowish, with both femur and patella mostly blackish. Sternites dark brown while presternal region brownish yellow.
Coloration in life (Fig. 3–5). Carapace and mesosomal entirely black; metasoma blackish brown with a beady gloss; pedipalp femur, patella and manus coffee-brown, manus with dark reticulated markings; movable and immovable fingers pale. Vesicle reddish brown.
Prosoma (Fig. 8, 10 & 12). Carapace densely and evenly granulated; interocular region granulated; median ocular tubercle very weakly granulated, without prominent carinae. Anterior margin straight and granulated with few short red setae. Lateral margin composed of minutely crenulate granules. Posterior margin granulated, composed of unevenly sized granules. Lat-eral ocular tubercle with five eyes of which four (three large and one small) are contiguous.
Mesosoma (Fig. 6 & 14). Tergites I–VII with a median T-shaped carina; segment III–VII with poorly developed lateral carinae. Tergite VII pentacarinate, both pairs of lateral carinae moderate; median carinae present on the anterior half, weakly marked. Intercarinal spaces granulated. Sternites III–VI without carinae; sternite VII granulated on posterior and lateral margins, with two pairs of moderate carinae. Pectinal tooth count 18–19.
Metasoma (Fig. 6, 7 & 15). The segment I with 8 granulated carinae, lateral carinae smooth. Segment II bears six carinae while segment III bears five carinae. Segment IV with a pair of weak dorsal carinae. Segment V with weak dorsal carinae and two incomplete dorsolateral carinae only in the posterior half, composed of large denticles. Dorsal surface of metasomal segments I–III with mesial granulation arranged in a distinct stripe. All segments punctate, intercarinal regions on segments II–III granulated. Punctation well developed on all segments except segment I, which is comparatively weakly punctate. Spaces among punctations smooth. Dorsal surface of all segments is mesially distinctly granulated. The entire metasoma and telson almost glabrous expect for a few red setae on the telson and dorsal ridge of the segments III–V. The telson is punctate and lacks granules.
Chelicerae. Basal piece yellowish brown with black ornamentation, anterior margin dark black. Dentition as characterised in the family and genus. A few short silky hairs present.
Pedipalp (Fig. 17). Trichobothrial pattern orthobothriotaxic, Type A (Vachon 1974). Dorsal trichobothria on femur in β (beta) configuration (Vachon, 1975). Femur pentacarinate, all carinae crenulate. Patella with 7 smooth carinae. Dentate margins on fixed and movable fingers with 9 imbricate rows of granules; external accessory granule moderate.
Legs (Fig. 16). The femur conspicuously granular. Tarsi and basitarsi I and II furnished with setae. Bristlecombs absent on all legs. The inner sides of legs I–III bear rows of spines.
Variation. Two male (Fig. 10) paratypes are similar to female holotype but differ in the following set of characters: (a) a slightly higher pectinal tooth count of 20–20 (Figure 11); (b) mesosoma with rudimentary lateral carinae on segments II– VI; (c) carinae on metasomal segments I– III on metasoma weakly developed as compared to female (Figure 10); (d) a comparatively smaller size, 25.22–31.72 mm.
Distribution and natural history (Fig. 1 & 2). The type locality, MIDC area in the Jalna District of Maharashtra, is characterized with open area with a few trees sparsely dotting the landscape. The new species was collected under boulders. The new species is common throughout the district in similar ecological conditions with other sympatric species, namely Heterometrus xanthopus (Scorpionidae) and Hottentotta tamulus (Buthidae). The species may yet be found in adjoining districts which share similar habitats. Specimens observed in the wild and in captivity would remain stationary in a position with their tails curled and pressed down on their mesosoma as observed in O. scrobiculosus by E. Fet et al. (2003) as well as other Orthochirus species in India (Zambre, pers. obs.) and Buthoscorpio rayalensis (see Javed et al., 2010).
While collecting the types, one of us (RU) got stung by one of the specimens. Pain was agonizing and lasted for at least five hours and was much more painful compared to the sting of Hottentotta tamulus. Additionally, numbness on the stung finger was much more developed than in the sting of H. tamulus, and lack of sensation persisted for a considerable period of time. Taking into account the severity of the envenomation, it would be imperative to consider this species to be medically important.
description: Published as part of Zambre, Amod M., Mirza, Zeeshan A., Sanap, Rajesh V., Upadhye, Raman & Maqsood Javed, S. M., 2011, A new species of Orthochirus Karsch, 1892 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Maharashtra, India, pp. 1-12 in Euscorpius 107 (107) on pages 2-6, DOI: 10.18590/euscorpius.2011.vol2011.iss107.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4649109