Scorpiops deshpandei, Tang & Ouyang & Liu & Šťáhlavský, 2024

Scorpiops deshpandei sp. n.

( Figures 1–38 View Figures 1–2 View Figures 3–6 View Figures 7–12 View Figures 13–23 View Figures 24–33 View Figures 34–38 ; Tables 1–2) http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1562EED8-

C72E-407F-A311-5D70C2DDE2AF

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE DEPOSITORY. CHINA, Tibet Autonomous Region, Nyingchi (or Linzhi, Nyingtri) prefecture-level City, Mêdog (or Motuo, Pemako) County , Drepung (or Beibeng, Baibung) Township (or Beibengxiang), 29°13'49.0''N 95°10'45.8''E (29.23027117°N 95.17938118°E), 1523 m a. s. l.; VT GoogleMaps .

TYPE MATERIAL. CHINA, Tibet Autonomous Region, Nyingchi prefecture-level City , Mêdog County, Drepung Township , 29°13'49.0''N 95°10'45.8''E, 1523 m a. s. l., 19 July 2023, 1♂ (holotype), 2 juvs. ♂ ♀ (paratypes), leg. Tongtong. GoogleMaps

ETYMOLOGY. The specific epithet is a patronym in honor of Indian scorpiologist Shubhankar Deshpande, a friend of the first author and a passionate, responsible scorpion enthusiast focusing on the taxonomy of Scorpiops and Isometrus Ehrenberg, 1828 . The nexus between the concrete species and and its nomenclature was established based on its evident resemblance to the Indian congener, S. longimanus . Chinese equivalent: 德氏ĀH (roughly as “Deshpande’s resemblant scorpion” in English; see Tang (2022a) for the rules of designation).

DIAGNOSIS. Total length ca. 54 mm for male. Base color uniformly reddish brown to brownish black; chela manus, telson and parts of legs slightly brighter, genital plate, pectinal lamellae and venter brownish, pectinal teeth dark brown (in vivo, for holotype). Cuticular surface matte and moderately granular. Carapace with anteromedian notch triangular; ocular tubercle not distinct within ocular islet; ocular subislets moderate in length and coarsely granular; interocular sulcus distinct; superciliary carinae granular. Cheliceral fixed finger with basal and median denticles forming into a bicuspid trunk. PTC 8 in male and 7 in female; pectines with 3 marginal and 1 middle lamellae (P4); fulcra present; sternites III–VI matte, VII granular with four distinct carinae. Pedipalp patella with strong prolateral apophysis; 17–18 external and 7–8 ventral trichobothria. Chela with 4 V series trichobothria; Eb 3 located in middle of manus at nearly the same level as Dt (type B); Ch-L/W ca. 4.78 in male. Dentate margin of movable fingers weakly undulate in male, with 13–14 OD, 83–97 MD, 51–65 IAD and 5–7 ID. Telotarsi of leg I–VI with 8–9 stout median ventral spinules nearly in a single row. Metasoma I–V with 10-8-8-8-7 carinae. Telson slender and relatively smooth; T-L/D ca. 3.57 in male; annular ring developed.

DESCRIPTION (♂).Overall habitus ( Figs. 1–2 View Figures 1–2 ), prosoma, mesosoma, metasoma and telson, chelicera, legs and hemispermatophore were photographed under white light. Additional UV fluorescence imaging was applied for prosoma and mesosoma. Pedipalp was photographed only under UV light given its lack of distinct color patterns.

Prosoma and mesosoma ( Figs. 3–12 View Figures 3–6 View Figures 7–12 , 24–25 View Figures 24–33 ). Prosoma: Carapace with 3 pairs of lateral ocelli (two larger, one smaller); median ocular tubercle not distinct within islet, merged with granular ridges of antero- and postocular subislets; subislets moderated in length and coarsely granular, somewhat elevated; interocular sulcus distinct; superciliary carinae granular and gradually fused with subislets. Dorsomedian part of the carapace (ca. 2/3 of total area) planar, with anterolateral boundaries demarcated by coarse granules; lateral surfaces slanting downwards. Entire carapace densely covered with moderate granules, and adorned with lattice microstructures at non-granular regions; larger granules concentrated anteriorly at edges flanking anteromedian sulcus, and above and posterior to lateral ocelli; distinct carinae absent. Anterior margin of carapace with a prominent, triangular median notch leading to a shallow, smooth anteromedian sulcus; circumocular and posteromedian sulci smooth; lateral surfaces with a pair of moderate central lateral sulci and prominent posterior lateral sulci, both non-granular; posterior marginal sulcus deep. Chelicerae with dorsal surface smooth and ventral surface densely setose on 2/3 area; all denticles of cheliceral fingers sharp; basal and median denticles on fixed finger strongly conjoined on a common trunk. Mesosoma: Tergites I–III highly granular, VII coarsely granulated and pentacarinate; all tergites sparsely covered with small to moderate, pointed granules, becoming denser closer to posterior margins, with weak median carina indicated (more prominent on VI–IV while concealed by random granules on VII). Sternites III–IV smooth, with multiple macrosetae arrayed along the posterior margin, as well as two axisymmetric, curved furrows; sternite VII moderately granulated with two costate carinae; respiratory spiracles suboval. Genital operculum divided into two halves, with genital papillae at the base. Pectines with 3 marginal and 1 middle lamellae present; pectine teeth number 8/8; area of peg sensilla covers the majority of each pectinal tooth; fulcra present and developed; numerous fluorescent microsetae present.

Metasoma and telson ( Figs. 26–29 View Figures 24–33 ). Metasoma sparsely hirsute and granulated; carinae formed by moderately fused granules (costate-granular). Metasoma I with 10 carinae, II–IV with 8 carinae, and V with 7 carinae; median lateral carinae of metasoma II–III very weakly indicated at the distal part by granules, absent on IV; all carinae weakly serrated, but stronger in ventromedian carina on metasoma V. Anal arch armed with sharp granules. Telson smooth, very sparsely hirsute, elongated and dorsally weakly concave; all surfaces nearly smooth, otherwise adorned by very fine granules; prominent annular ring developed. Vesicle with lateral surface furnished by one longitudinal sulci close to dorsal surface, and ventral surface with two parallel longitudinal sulci; all four sulci relatively shallow and basically smooth (covered with extremely minute granules). Aculeus smooth, short, very weakly curved (tip slightly broken).

Pedipalps ( Figs. 13–23 View Figures 13–23 ). Pedipalps very sparsely hirsute, intercarinal surfaces scattered with small to moderate granules and patches of lattice microstructures. Patella with 17/18(?) external (4 et, 4 est, 2/3(?) em, 2 esb, 5 eb) and 7/8 ventral trichobothria. Chela with 4 V series trichobothria; trichobothrium Eb 3 located in middle of manus at nearly the same level as Dt (Eb 3 more proximal). Femur with 5 highly granular carinae and a densely granulated dorsal surface; promedian carina obsolete, delineated by two larger granules; retroventral carina partially incomplete, respectively diffusing into random granules of the same size as adjacent intercarinal granules proximally and distally; other 4 carinae complete, formed by large, discrete granules. Patella with 5 granular carinae with finely and sparsely intercarinal surfaces; granules smaller on retromedian carina; granules form a weakly reticulate configuration on dorsal surface; prolateral surface with a triangular apophysis armed with two long spiniform granules. Manus moderately adorned with small intercarinal granules on all surfaces; all carinae granular; subdigital and ventroexternal carinae obsolete; dorsal secondary, external secondary and ventrointernal carinae relatively short, gradually diffusing to dispersed granules distally; granules on dorsal marginal, ventromedian and interomedian carinae larger. Dentate margin of movable fingers weakly undulate (proximal lobe present), adorned by 14/14 OD, 97/91 MD, 65/60 IAD (same size as MD) and 7/6 ID; IAD series creates a second row along MD series without obvious subdivisions. Legs ( Figs. 30–33 View Figures 24–33 ). Tibia and tarsomeres of legs with several macrosetae not arranged into bristle combs. Basitarsi of legs I–II with two rows of dense, short spinules, but both absent on legs III–IV; a pair of pedal spurs present on the distal margin of all basitarsi. Telotarsi of legs I–IV with a row of short, stout ventromedian spinules (8–9 in number) of which two are always paired on the distal end. Ungues moderate in length, stout and curved. Carinae on femur and patella either finely granular or costate.

Hemispermatophore ( Figs. 35–38 View Figures 34–38 ). Lamelliform in profile. Distal lamina long, moderately slender; basally constricted, terminally coiled and tapered. Capsule conforms to 2-folds bauplan; distal posterior lobe marginally sclerotized and armed with ca. 12 denticles of which 4 located along the lateral edge; lateral hook entirely sclerotized, irregular in shape, apically sharpened; terminal membrane of sperm duct translucent but not spiculate; basal carina accords with Group 4 (Kovařík et al., 2020: 27), sclerotized and distally expended into a plate with polydentate basal crest bearing crown-like structure. Trunk broad with mid-axial rib dividing it into anterior and posterior halves, distal end of the axial rib connected to the sclerotized distal carina of the capsule by a narrow junction, truncal flexure absent. Pedicel (= foot, in Kovařík et al., 2020) broad, soft and translucent.

Measurements. See Table 1.

VARIATION. Several age-independent quantitative characters are recorded for the immature paratypes. Paratype male: (1) PTC 8 /8; (2) ID 7/7, OD 14 /14, MD 89 /89, IAD 53 /51; (3) PVTC 8 /8. Paratype female: (1) PTC 7 /7; (2) ID 5/6, OD 13 /14, MD 83 /86, IAD 54 /55; (3) PVTC 8 /8. It is noteworthy that pectinal teeth were not brownish but rather light yellow in the two immature paratypes , manifesting a marked color contrast against the dark brown pectinal lamellae. We are, however, uncertain if this indicates an anomaly in the holotype or a presence of ontogenetic variation. Concerning the unequivocal ontogenetic variation, the immature male possessed a proportionally shorter pedipalp with respect to the carapace length (pedipalp length to carapace length ratio ca. 4.18 in paratype male and ca. 4.99 in holotype male). The paratype female was not conspicuously different from the paratype male, except for the absence of genital papillae and a pair of smaller pectines with lower PTC, both ontogenetically invariant (sexual dimorphism). The shape of carapacial anteromedian notch and ocular islet was not sexually dimorphic. Proximal lobe of pedipalp movable finger was vestigial in both paratypes.

AFFINITIES. S. deshpandei sp. n. can be confidently distinguished from its two congeneric geographic neighbors based on adult males. From S. kamengensis (Bastawade, 2006) , it differs as follows: (1) pedipalp chela more slender ( Fig. 13 View Figures 13–23 vs. Kovařík et al., 2020: fig. 277); (2) movable finger with stronger proximal lobe and corresponding notch on fixed finger ( Fig. 14 View Figures 13–23 vs. Kovařík et al., 2020: fig. 278); (3) ID 5–7 (vs. 5), MD> 82 (vs. 80); (4) Eb 3 position type B (vs. A). From S. novaki , it differs as follows: (1) pedipalp much more slender ( Fig. 13 View Figures 13–23 vs. Kovařík, 2005: fig. 15); (2) PVTC 7–8 (vs. 8–9); (3) ID 5–7 (vs. 4), OD 13–14 (vs. 11–13), MD> 82 (vs. 70); (4) Eb 3 position type B (vs. A). Considering the known dispersal ability of several species in this genus (Kovařík et al., 2020: fig. 799), we further compared S. deshpandei sp. n. with four other congeners with elongated chelae in nearby regions where it can be readily distinguished from three of those species. From S. asthenurus Pocock, 1900 , it differs as follows: (1) dorsal marginal carina of chela not curved ( Fig. 13 View Figures 13–23 vs. Kovařík et al., 2020: fig. 271); (2) PVTC 7–8 (vs. 8–9); (3) ID 5–7 (vs. 4–5), OD 13–14 (vs. 10–12), MD> 82 (vs. 75); (4) Eb 3 position type B (vs. A). From S. bhutanensis , it differs as follows: (1) pedipalp much less slender ( Fig. 13 View Figures 13–23 vs. Lv & Di, 2022a: fig. 1); (2) pectines dark brown (vs. yellow; Fig. 9 View Figures 7–12 vs. Lv & Di, 2022a: fig. 13); (3) Eb 3 position type B (vs. A). From S. lii (Di & Qiao, 2020) , it differs as follows: (1) pedipalp chela more slender ( Fig. 13 View Figures 13–23 vs. Di & Qiao, 2020: fig. 1); (2) venter and telson not bright yellow ( Figs. 2 View Figures 1–2 , 29 View Figures 24–33 vs. Di & Qiao, 2020: figs. 2, 15); (3) different pectinal morphology with higher PTC (8 vs. 5–6 in males; Fig. 9 View Figures 7–12 vs. Di & Qiao, 2020: fig. 9); (4) Eb 3 position type B (vs. A).

S. deshpandei sp. n. is undoubtedly most associated with S. longimanus Pocock, 1893 from India which warrants particular focus. A photograph depicting the external view of the chela of an adult male in Kovařík et al. (2020: fig. 282) implies that the proximal lobe on movable finger is somewhat weaker in S. longimanus . According to a recent redescription of this species based on 54 specimens by Malsawmdawngliana et al. (2022), it is also revealed that pectines are consistently light yellow in S. longimanus but dark brown in S. deshpandei sp. n. ( Fig. 8 View Figures 7–12 ; but see above for the note on immature specimens). Based on data from both Kovařík et al. (2020: 128) and Malsawmdawngliana et al. (2022: 6), the male S. longimanus is characterized as follows: (1) PTC: 6/7 (n = 1), 7/7 (n = 1), 8/7 (n = 1), 9/8 (n = 2); (2) PVTC: 9–11 (usually 10–11); (3) PETC: 18–19; (4) IAD: 50–60; (5) MD: 80; (6) ID: 5–6; (7) OD: 13–14; (8) Eb 3 position type A. While S. deshpandei sp. n. falls into the variation range of character 1, being identical on character 7, and overlapped in characters 3, 4 and 6 of S. longimanus , the discordance in PVTC (7–8), MD count (> 82) and Eb 3 position (type B), allows the differentiation. More importantly, our molecular analysis has further corroborated the status of this species as distinct from S. longimanus ( Table 3). Collectively, S. deshpandei sp. n. is notably distinguished by its consistent type B Eb 3 position across all type specimens, a feature in contrast to the type A position observed in all its geographical neighbors possessing elongated pedipalp chelae. Specifically, in S. deshpandei sp. n., Dt is positioned centrally to distally along the digital carina within the manus, differing from its somewhat proximal location in other species.

It is also appealing to observe a case of regeneration in the holotype male. The fourth right leg experienced loss of telotarsus and partial loss of basitarsus, and ungues and dactyl were regenerated at the extremity of the truncated basitarsus, alongside an increase of setae ( Fig. 127 View Figures 127–129 ). More intriguingly, rows of spinules and ventral vertices of lateroapical margin (= “laterodistal lobes” in Prendini, 2000: 59) typically present on the ventrodistal surface of telotarsus developed on this segment. Axial rows of spinules are absent from the normal 4 th basitarsus, while distal marginal spinules may present ( Fig. 33 View Figures 24–33 ). However, those structures on the regenerated segment were even denser than the normal telotarsi. The regeneration and proliferation of those structures may indicate a morphological compensation for the truncated leg to preserve its locomotive function. It is noteworthy that postnatal regeneration after physical damage does not fall under the category of teratology. Teratology is the study of congenital malformations and abnormalities that arise from exposure to teratogens—agents that cause disruptions during embryonic or fetal development. These teratogens can include chemicals, drugs, infections, and environmental factors that interfere with normal developmental processes. In contrast, postnatal regeneration refers to the body’s ability to repair and regenerate tissues after birth in response to injury or damage, and does not involve the congenital origins or prenatal developmental disruptions.

BEHAVIORAL NOTES. The holotype of S. deshpandei sp. n. occasionally exhibited a cataleptic response, particularly after falling to the ground (cf. Tang, 2023: fig. 64). Upon the introduction of tactile stimulus through the touch of a finger, it may either dart for a short distance or remain motionless. However, this specimen displayed notable activity and agility, exhibiting aggression towards perceived threats. An inadvertent sting from this individual on the ventral surface of the index finger led to an immediate pricking sensation, followed by mild itching. However, the unpleasant sensation dissipated shortly after, giving way to moderate swelling.

DISTRIBUTION. Known only from the type locality.