Charinus israelensis Miranda & Aharon & Gavish-Regev & Giupponi & Wizen 2016, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Miranda, Gustavo S.
name: Aharon, Shlomi
name: Gavish-Regev, Efrat
name: Giupponi, Alessandro P. L.
name: Wizen, Gil
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Amblypygi
Charinidae
Charinus
Charinus israelensis

description: Charinus israelensis sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: D789C530-EBA5-4774-817E-EBCA7DAC76EB
Figs 1–6
Diagnosis
Median eyes extremely reduced and median tubercle absent; lateral eyes very reduced; 6–8 frontal setae on the carapace; basitibia of leg IV divided in four pseudo-articles; trichobothrium of the basitibia IV (bt) at the proximal third of the article; distitibia IV with 16 trichobothria; trichobothrium bc closer to bf than to sbf; finger-like gonopods. It differs from C. ioanniticus, by the degree of development of the median and lateral eyes, the number of spines on the pedipalp (femur with four dorsal and four ventral in C. israelensis sp. nov. and five dorsal and five ventral in C. ioanniticus), the shape of the carapace (with a rounded frontal border in C. israelensis sp. nov. and projected anteriorly in C. ioanniticus) and the shape of the frontal process (acute in C. israelensis sp. nov. and rhomboid in C. ioanniticus).
Etymology
The specific epithet, a Latin adjective, refers to the country where the new species was found.
Type material
Holotype
ISRAEL: ♀, Mimlach cave, Lower Galilee, 32°51′31.84″ N, 35°26′34.94″ E, Wizen G. leg., 30 Mar. 2014 (HUJINVAMB 111A).
Paratypes
ISRAEL: 1 ♀, locality and date as for holotype, Wizen G. leg. (HUJINVAMB 111B); 3 ♀♀, Susita cave, Southern Golan Heights, 32°46′46.20″ N, 35°39′28.53″ E, 2 May 2013, Wizen G. leg. (2 in HUJINVAMB 109, 1 in MNRJ 9307); 1 ♀, same locality as holotype, 13 Jul. 2013, Wizen G. leg. (HUJINVAMB 110).
Description
Female (n = 4)
MEASUREMENTS (in mm). Carapace: length 3.0 (2.76–3.54), width 4.3 (3.92–4.86). Body total length: 8.1 (6.6–10.5). Pedipalp: Femur 2.7 (2.1–3.6), Tibia 3.0 (2.5–4.0), Basitarsus 1.3 (1.2–1.6), Distitarsus 0.9 (0.8–1.0), Tarsal claw 0.7 (0.6–0.9). Leg I: Femur 7.5 (6.9–9), Tibia 12.8 (11.5–15.3), Tarsus 13.4 (13.2–13.8). Leg II: Femur 5.0 (4.5–5.9), Basitibia 3.7 (3.4–4.4), Distitibia 2.5 (2.3–2.7), Basitarsus 1.0 (0.8–1.2), Other tarsal articles 0.7 (0.7–0.7). Leg III: Femur 5.8 (5.3–6.7), Basitibia 4.6 (4.2–5.4), Distitibia 2.7 (2.5–3.0), Basitarsus 1.1 (1.0–1.3), Other tarsal articles 0.8 (0.7–0.9). Leg IV: Femur 4.9 (4.5–4.8), Basitibia I 2.3 (2.1–2.8), Basitibia II 0.6 (0.5–0.8), Basitibia III 0.7 (0.6–0.9), Basitibia IV 1.2 (1.1–1.4), Distitibia 2.5 (2.2–2.8), Basitarsus 1.1 (0.9–1.3), Other tarsal articles 0.7 (0.6–0.9). Size range is shown in Fig. 5A.
CARAPACE (Figs 1A, 4A). Carapace flattened, wider than long (1.4 times), strongly bent downwards below lateral eyes; a thin median furrow reaches the fovea starting from the depression where remnants of median eyes are present. Anterior margin rounded, with six to eight large frontal setae. Many tiny punctuations, more abundant in frontal area; frontal process large, triangular, acute, not visible from above. Three pairs of lateral furrows on carapace, and an oval fovea. 1st pair of furrows placed just behind lateral protrusion; all furrows reach middle line. Eyes small, lateral eyes poorly or non-pigmented, but with tapetum; median eye tubercle absent and eyes almost absent, only a pair of small dots with remnant of lenses.
STERNUM (Fig. 1B). Tetra-segmented, all segments well sclerotized. Tritosternum with a round basis and projected anteriorly in a small blunt tubercle, which roughly surpasses the base of the pedipalp coxae, and with two apical, two median and two basal setae, and smaller ones at the base. Middle segment rounded, convex, with two setae and a few small ones. Third segment also rounded and convex, subequal to the middle segment, with two setae and several small ones. Sternites separated from each
other by half the diameter of the middle segment. Metasternum simple, with two pairs of small setae in a row on distal region.
ABDOMEN (Figs 1A, 5 B–C). Oblong, with almost indistinguishable punctuations, finer than those on the carapace. Ventral sacs developed, without ventral sac covers. When carrying the eggsac, the abdomen is slender and concave; the egg sac is wider than the abdomen, and no fold surrounds it.
CHELICERA (Fig. 2B). Cheliceral furrow with four internal teeth; first tooth (upper) bifid, Ia slightly smaller than Ib. Second tooth geminated with the first (Ia + Ib). Second and third teeth subequal. Fourth tooth one third larger than II and III and subequal to Ib. Teeth length: IV = Ib> Ia> II = III. External row with one small denticle in the upper region and small projection in the lower region. Internal surface of basal article with a vertical row of 3–4 large setae. Claw with eight small denticles.
PEDIPALP. Trochanter (Fig. 1E): large ventral apophysis, located at posterior border of trochanter, spiniform, bearing 13 large setae, with blunt tip pointed forwards; two subequal spines, one in about the center of the anterior row of tubercles, the other at its distal end. Femur (Fig. 1 D–E): four dorsal spines (I> II> III> IV) with two prominent setiferous tubercles before first spine; four ventral spines with two setiferous tubercles before the first spine (I> II> III> IV). Tibia (Fig. 1 D–E): five spines (I> II> III> IV> V); two setiferous tubercles distal to spine I, the proximal one about one third length of spine I and the distal one a bit higher than a regular setiferous tubercle; spine II two thirds of spine I, and spine III one third of spine I. Spines I and II with four setiferous tubercles on its first third. Three ventral spines (I> II> III), the proximal one a bit larger than a setiferous tubercle. Basitarsus (Fig. 1 D–E): two dorsal spines, the basal one two thirds the size of the distal one. One ventral spine at distal half, two thirds the size of basal dorsal spine. Distitarsus (Fig. 1 C–E): two large curved spines, the distal half the size of the article, and the basal half the size of the distal spine. Cleaning organ about half of the article length. Claw (Fig. 1C): long, with an acute, curved tip.
LEGS. All setose. Ventral corner of the prolateral face of femora II–IV projecting in a distinct spiniform process. Femur length: I> III> II> IV. Tibia I with 21 articles. Tarsus (basitarsus + distitarsus) I with 37 articles; modified claw at tip of leg (Fig. 3 C–D); leg covered with many bristles (b) and club sensilla (cl). Leg IV: Basitibia: divided into four pseudo-articles, with one trichobothrium (Fig. 2A) on the proximal third of the last pseudo-segments. Distitibia (Fig. 2A): two basal and 14 distal trichobothria (total of 16); trichobothrium bc closer to bf than to sbf, which is displaced to close to sf -sc. Basitibia-distitibia length: DT> BT1> BT4> BT3> BT2.
COLOR PATTERN (in alcohol) (Figs 1, 4A). Chelicerae, pedipalps and carapace yellowish-brown. Legs lighter colored. Abdomen pale yellow. Color of live animals (Figs 4D, F, 5): Chelicerae burgundy, pedipalps and carapace reddish-brown. Some individuals have tiny spots of dark pigment anteriorly to the depression that marks the location of the missing median eyes. Legs yellowish-brown. Abdomen pale yellow. Egg sac tanned and dark brown. All setae red.
GENITALIA. Female gonopod (Fig. 2 A–B): posterior margin of genital operculum straight, with few setae along its margin and on its surface. Gonopods finger-like appendage vestiges, forming a wrinkled and folded cushion, with a broad base narrowing to a thin straight apical appendage vestige; deep in the genital atrium. Gonopod very similar to that of its closest related species C. ioanniticus.
Male
Unknown.
Natural history
Charinus israelensis sp. nov. was found only in warm, humid man-made caves in northern Israel. Females were collected from March to July (the caves were not visited in the autumn and winter season to avoid disturbing a population of Rhinolophus bats that hibernate in the cave). Although we found several small-sized arthropods in the caves (e.g., Blattodea, Thysanura), the most frequently encountered prey items were spiders of the genus Loxosceles and isopods. Juveniles of C. israelensis sp. nov. feed mainly on Psocoptera dwelling on the cave floor. This species is tolerant to conspecifics compared to other Charinus species, with individuals often found in close proximity (ca 20 cm) to each other. Gravid females are more isolated and show aggression towards other individuals (Fig. 5A). The egg sac contains 9– 30 eggs (Fig. 5 B–C). Egg measurements: 1.3–1.4 mm in diameter. At 25°C, egg development takes ca 90 days. The hatching praenymphae are white and measure 2–2.2 mm. They climb and stay on the mother’s back for 12 days, after which they molt into protonymphae measuring 2.5 mm in length.
Distribution
Known from the type locality (Mimlach cave, Lower Galilee) and from Susita, Southern Golan Heights, both in northern Israel (Fig. 6).
Key to the Charinus species group and to the species of the bengalensis species group
The three Charinus species groups (australianus, bengalensis and brasilianus) can be identified by the different shape of the female genitalia (Weygoldt 2005). Here we provide a key to the species groups of Charinus, including references to images of each type of female gonopod, and a key to all species of the bengalensis species group.
description: Published as part of Miranda, Gustavo S., Aharon, Shlomi, Gavish-Regev, Efrat, Giupponi, Alessandro P. L. & Wizen, Gil, 2016, A new species of Charinus Simon, 1892 (Arachnida: Amblypygi: Charinidae) from Israel and new records of C ioanniticus (Kritscher, 1959), pp. 1-17 in European Journal of Taxonomy 234 on pages 4-12, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2016.234, http://zenodo.org/record/3846255