Chiromachetes ramdasswamii Sulakhe & Deshpande & Dandekar & Ketkar & Gowande & Padhye & Bastawade 2020, sp. n.
Creators: name: Sulakhe, Shauri
name: Deshpande, Shubhankar
name: Dandekar, Nikhil
name: Ketkar, Makarand
name: Gowande, Gaurang
name: Padhye, Anand
name: Bastawade, Deshabhushan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Scorpiones
Hormuridae
Chiromachetes
Chiromachetes ramdasswamii

description: Chiromachetes ramdasswamii sp. n.
(Figures 31–60, 61, 81–83, Tables 1, 4–7)
http: //zoobank. org/urn: lsid: zoobank. org: act: F054DFD1– B3D9–4780–A0A2–90E72CA6E1FD
TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE REPOSITORY. India, Maharashtra State, Pune District, Varandha Ghat, 18°07'23" N 73°36'07"E, 473 m a. s. l.; BNHS.
TYPE MATERIAL. India, Maharashtra State, Pune District, Varandha Ghat, 18°07'23"N 73°36'07"E, 473 m a. s. l., 1♂ (holotype, BNHS SC 182), 9 July 2020, 2♂ (paratypes, INHER 254, BNHS SC 183), 11 July 2020, 4♀ (paratypes, INHER 246, 249, BNHS SC 184, 185), 9 July 2020, leg. M. Ketkar, A. Marathe, S. Deshpande & S. Sulakhe.
ETYMOLOGY. The species epithet is a patronym honouring Samartha Ramdas Swami, who was a renowned Hindu saint, philosopher, poet, writer, social reformer, and spiritual master of the 17 th century. It is believed that he dictated his famous literary trait “Dasbodh” while residing in a natural cave behind a waterfall known as Shivtharghal, very close to the type locality.
DESCRIPTION. (♂ holotype, measurements in Table 2). Coloration (in presered condition) (Figs. 31, 32, 44, 45). Overall body color blackish with glossy surface. Legs yellowish brown. Telson vesicle yellow and aculeus black. Ventral aspect yellowish brown. Carapace and fingers of manus blackish. Pedipalps dark brown, carinae almost black. Chelicera basal segment yellowish brown with black reticulation. Fingers of chelicera dark brown.
Carapace (Figs. 37–40, 42). Carapace wider than long. Entire surface of carapace almost smooth with fine and dense granulation present along the central median furrow. Median furrow distinct only on anterior and middle portion. Posterior lateral furrow deep with coarse and dense granulation along the margin. Posterior median furrow triangular with a prominent horizontal and elliptical posterior depression. Anterior margin of carapace with deep U shaped emargination in the middle. Lateral ocular tubercles with three pairs of lateral eyes. Carapace lacks carinae. Pair of median eyes situated on carapace in the proportions of 1:1.6 (distance of median eyes to anterior margin and distance of median eyes to posterior margin). Margins entirely smooth.
Chelicerae (Fig. 35). Fixed finger of chelicera with one large triangular and two blunt conjoined subtriangular denticles on inner margin. Ventral tooth of movable finger lacks denticulation. Dorsal tooth of movable finger with 3 denticles on inner margin.
Pedipalp (Figs. 49–55). Pedipalps dorsoventrally flat. Femur with three (dorsal retrolateral, ventral retrolateral, median prolateral) andpatellawithfourcarinae (dorsalprolateral, ventral prolateral, dorsal retrolateral, ventral retrolateral). Intercarinal space with weak granulation. Prolateral surface of patella with large spur bearing two equal sized tubercles. Chela with five carinae (dorsal prolateral, ventral prolateral, dorsal retrolateral, median retrolateral, ventral retrolateral). Intercarinal space smooth on dorsal and ventral surface and sparsely granular on prolateral and retrolateral surface. Dentate margins of both chela fingers composed of two rows of granules. Movable finger granular on retrolateral surface and smooth with weak granulation basally on prolateral surface. Trichobothrial pattern of ‘ type C’ typical of the genus. Number of trichobothria: chela dorsal (4), chela ventral (4), chela prolateral (2), chela retrolateral (15), patella dorsal (2), patella ventral (3), patella prolateral (1), patella retrolateral (13), femur dorsal (1), femur prolateral (1) and femur retrolateral (1).
Legs (Figs.31, 32, 36, 40, 41, 44, 45). Legs I–IV; femur carinated on anterior portion; Intercarinal space with granulation. Tarsomere I with four spines distally and tarsomere II with three spines distally and a few spinules proximally.
Sternum, genital operculum and pectines (Figs. 33, 46). Sternum broad, pentagonal and entirely smooth. Genital operculum with a pair of genital papillae. Posterior sclerite with slight depression on middle portion. Pectines with 8/8 pectinal teeth and 7/7 fulcra.
Mesosoma (Figs. 31– 33, 40, 41, 44–46). All tergites smooth with median elevated portion. All sternites entirely smooth. Sternite VII granular on lateral portion and with symmetrical depressions on both halves posteriorly.
Metasoma (Figs. 31, 32, 34, 40, 41, 44, 45, 47). Metasomal segments I–IV smooth, finely punctate and with very weak obsolete carinae. Intercarinal space smooth. Ventrolateral carina on segment V strongly and densely serrated. Intercarinal space granular. Anal rim weakly tuberculated.
Telson (Figs. 34, 47). Bulbous, almost entirely smooth and hirsute on the ventral side. Aculeus short and strongly curved. Hemispermatophore (♂ paratype, INHER 254, Figs. 56, 57). Lamelliform; Capsular region appears to be complex, bulbous, sclerotized and wider than long. Lamella stout and short. Single lamellar hook, blunt and pointed upwards, situated at the base of the lamella. Pedicel 0.74 mm long; trunk 1.84 mm long; capsule 1.29 mm long and 1.68 mm wide; lamella 4.22 mm long.
SEXUAL DIMORPHISM. Male genital operculum with pair of genital papillae. In females, genital operculum medially sutured. Pedipalp manus slender in males and stouter in females (Figs. 31–33, 44–46).
AFFINITIES. Chiromachetes ramdasswamii sp. n. differs from all species of Chiromachetes from northern Western Ghats by a raw genetic divergence of 7.9–9.4 % (Table 5). It is also distinguished from all its congeners based on the following set of morphological characters:
1. Pectinal teeth number in males 8–9, females 6–7 as opposed to males 5–6, females 3–4 in C. tirupati, males 9–11, females 7–8 in C. fergusoni (Tables 1–3).
2. Chela length to manus width ratio in males 4.9–5.0, females 3.3–3.4 as opposed to males 3.6 in C. tirupati, males 3.4 and females 3.6 in C. fergusoni, males 4.3–4.4, females 3.5 in C. parakrami sp. n. (Table 4).
3. Pedipalp femur length to width ratio in males 3.7–4.1, females 2.6–2.9 as opposed to males 2.5 in C. tirupati, males 2.3, females 2.6 in C. fergusoni, males 3.2–3.5, females 3.0 in C. parakrami sp. n. (Table 4).
4. Chela length to movable finger length in males 2.7, as opposed to 2.1 in C. fergusoni, 2.4–2.6 in C. parakrami sp. n. (Table 4).
5. Carapace posterior median furrow triangular with a horizontal and elliptical posterior depression at the base as opposed to triangular with a shallow triangular posterior depression in C. parakrami sp. n., triangular with a deep triangular depression in C. sahyadriensis (Figs. 12, 42, 62), triangular with a deep, narrow and horizontal posterior depression in C. fergusoni (Figs. 72–73). 6. Ventrolateral carina of metasoma segment V strongly and densely serrated as opposed to strongly and sparsely serrated in C. sahyadriensis, strongly and densely serrated only on the posterior portion and weak on the anterior portion in C. parakrami sp. n. (Figs. 4, 17, 34, 47, 63).
7. Hemispermatophore with position of lamellar hook basal and shape of distal lamella stout and short as opposed to position of lamellar hook distal and shape of distal lamella slender and long in C. parakrami sp. n. (Figs. 26, 27, 56, 57).. DISTRIBUTION, HABITAT, AND ECOLOGY. Presently, C. ramdasswamii sp. n. is only known from its type locality, Varandha Ghat, Pune District, Maharashtra, India. The specimens were observed in the rock crevices all along the western escarpment. The type locality is surrounded by a tall mountain range with withered boulders on the slopes on one side and deep valley on the other side of the road. Individuals were also seen in crevices of the rock cliffs of the Kawla Fort, through which the Varandha Ghat road is carved. This species is also very commonly seen residing in the gaps of constructed rock walls along the Varandha Ghat road. The species is particularly not seen on the eastern slope of the crest line. Individuals were found to be active at night sitting at the openings of very narrow rock crevices. Females were more commonly observed at the type locality in large numbers. Males were comparatively less in numbers and thus difficult to find. The ecology and morphology of the new species is congruent with the lithophilic scorpions (Figs. 58–60).
description: Published as part of Sulakhe, Shauri, Deshpande, Shubhankar, Dandekar, Nikhil, Ketkar, Makarand, Gowande, Gaurang, Padhye, Anand & Bastawade, Deshabhushan, 2020, Two new species of Chiromachetes (Scorpiones: Hormuridae) from the northern Western Ghats, India, pp. 1-27 in Euscorpius 320 on pages 10-13, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4648766