Scorpiops reini, Tang, 2024

Scorpiops reini sp. n.

( Figures 1–72, 75 View Figures 1–4 View Figures 5–12 View Figures 13–18 View Figures 19–24 View Figures 25–36 View Figures 37–48 View Figures 49–52 View Figures 53–64 View Figures 65–70 View Figures 71–75 , 111–112 View Figures 85–126 ; Table 1) http://zoobank.org/lsid:zoobank.org:act:C3C4F41D-

7A74-434F-868D-594296E9D2BA

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE DEPOSITORY. China, Yunnan, Dehong Prefecture , Yingjiang County, 24°35'27.0''N 97°41'34.0''E (24.590833°N 97.692778°E), 1362 m a. s. l.; VT GoogleMaps & FKCP.

TYPE MATERIAL. China, Yunnan Province, Dehong Prefecture , Yingjiang County, 24°35'27.0''N 97°41'34.0''E (24.590833°N 97.692778°E), 1362 m a. s. l., 30 January 2024, 1♂ (holotype), 1♀ (paratype), 6 juvs. (paratype, FKCP) GoogleMaps , leg. unknown collector.

ETYMOLOGY. The specific epithet is a patronym in honor of Norwegian scorpiologist Jan Ove Rein, who established the renowned website The Scorpion Files which has profoundly assisted numerous scorpion enthusiasts, including the author. Chinese equivalent: DZ氏ĀM (roughly as “Rein’s resemblant scorpion” in English; see Tang (2022a) for the rules of designation).

DIAGNOSIS (♂ ♀). Total length (tergites contracted) ca. 55 mm for holotype male and ca. 48 mm for paratype female. Base color uniformly dark reddish black (appearing greyish black in vivo if not moistened); telson and ventral of prosoma and mesosoma reddish brown (in vitro). Cuticular surface matte and finely granular. Carapace with anteromedian notch subtriangular in male and dome-shaped in female; ocular tubercle distinct within ocular islet; ocular subislets relatively short and narrow (especially the anterocular subislet), moderately granular; interocular sulcus wide and distinct; superciliary carinae smooth to engraved; ocular sockets large. PTC 9–10 in male and 8 in female; pectines with marginal lamellae I and III present, marginal lamella II not delimited, but connected with middle lamella forming a single compact unit (P2); fulcra present; sternites III–VI lustrous, VII very weakly granular without distinct carinae. Pedipalp patella with strong prolateral apophysis; 17–19 external and 9–11 ventral trichobothria. Chela with 4 V series trichobothria; Eb 3 located in distal half of manus between Dt and Est (type A); Ch-L/W ca. 3.66 in male and ca. 3.19 in female. Dentate margin of movable fingers moderately undulate in male and weakly undulate in female, with 13 OD, 84–85 MD, 51–58 IAD and 6–7 ID. Telotarsi of leg I–VI with 5–8 stout median ventral spinules nearly in a single row with the terminal two always paired. Metasoma I–V with 10-8-8-8-7 carinae. Telson slender and relatively smooth; T-L/D ca. 3.32 in male and ca. 3.43 in female; annular ring developed.

DESCRIPTION (♂).All structures (except pedipalp movable fingers) were photographed under white light, with additional UV fluorescence imaging applied for prosoma, mesosoma, carapace, pectines, sternites and pedipalp chela. Description for the coloration is omitted as the specimens underwent decomposition.

Prosoma and mesosoma ( Figs. 5–8 View Figures 5–12 , 13–18 View Figures 13–18 , 65–66 View Figures 65–70 ). Prosoma: Carapace with pairs of MLMa, PLMa and PLMi, conforming to Type 3A lateral ocelli (Loria & Prendini, 2014); median ocular tubercle distinct within islet, elevated from antero- and postocular subislets; subislets relatively short, narrow and moderately granular, anterocular subislet shorter and less granular; interocular sulcus wide distinct; superciliary carinae smooth to engraved; ocular socket proportionally large. Dorsomedian part of the carapace (ca. 2/3 of total area) planar, with a heart-shaped region 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, subtriangular median notch leading to a wide, shallow, smooth anteromedian sulcus; circumocular and posteromedian sulci smooth; lateral surfaces with a pair of shallow central lateral sulci and prominent posterior lateral sulci, both non-granular; posterior marginal sulcus moderate. Mesosoma: All tergites moderately covered with small to moderate, pointed granules, becoming denser posteriorly; tergites III–VI with a relatively weak median carina becoming progressively pronounced posteriorly, VII pentacarinate. Sternites III–IV lustrous, with several macrosetae arrayed along the posterior margin; sternite VII very weakly granular without distinct carinae; respiratory spiracles suboval. Genital operculum divided into two halves, with genital papillae at the base. Right pectine with 1 st marginal lamella lineated from middle lamella but not forming a well-defined unit, 3 rd marginal lamella only indicated; left pectine with 1 st marginal lamella better defined, 2 nd marginal lamella incompletely separated from middle lamella, 3 rd marginal lamella only indicated; pectine teeth number 10/9; fulcra present and moderately developed (high width, low depth); several fluorescent microsetae present on the inner and outer margins of each pectine.

Metasoma and telson ( Figs. 53–54 View Figures 53–64 , 67 View Figures 65–70 ). Metasoma sparsely hirsute and granulated; carinae mostly formed by thin to rounded, discrete, small granules, except for the dorsosubmedian carinae on segments I–IV as well as the ventrolateral and ventromedian carinae on segment V, which are formed by more spiniform granules (serrated). Metasomal segment I with 10 carinae, II– IV with 8 carinae, and V with 7 carinae; intercarinal surfaces sparsely granular. Telson elongated and dorsally weakly concave; generally smooth with larger granules concentrated dorsolaterally; very sparsely hirsute; prominent annular ring developed. Vesicle with lateral surface furnished by one shallow longitudinal sulcus close to dorsal surface. Aculeus smooth, moderate in length and curvature.

Pedipalps ( Figs. 25–30 View Figures 25–36 , 37–42 View Figures 37–48 , 49–50 View Figures 49–52 ). Pedipalps very sparsely hirsute with mainly fluorescent microsetae, intercarinal surfaces scattered with small to moderate granules and patches of lattice microstructures. Patella with 17/19 external (5/5 et, 3/4 est, 3/3 em, 1/2 esb, 5/5 eb; homologous left trichobothria est and esb manifested as “petite” ones and were excluded) and 10/11 ventral trichobothria. Chela with 4 V series trichobothria; trichobothrium Eb 3 located in distal half of manus between Dt and Est. Femur with 5 complete, highly granular carinae; promedian carina slightly weaker, formed by more discrete granules, other 4 carinae formed by denser, coarser granules; retroventral carina incomplete, diffusing into random granules of the same size as adjacent intercarinal granules distally; dorsal surface coarsely granulated, ventral surface finely granulated. Patella with 5 granular carinae with finely and sparsely intercarinal surfaces; granules smaller on proventral carina; prolateral surface with two strong, triangular apophyses situated on the same vertical line, flanked by several much smaller spiniform granules; a reticulate pattern indicated on the ventral surface. Manus moderately adorned with small intercarinal granules on all surfaces, forming reticulate patterns; all carinae granular, formed by dense, rounded, moderate to large granules; subdigital and ventroexternal carinae obsolete; dorsal secondary, external secondary, ventrointernal, interomedian carinae partially incomplete, gradually diffusing to dispersed granules distally; dorsal marginal, digital and ventromedian carinae more complete with larger granules. Dentate margin of movable finger moderately undulate (proximal lobe present) with a corresponding notch on dentate margin of fixed finger; adorned by 13/13 OD, 84/85 MD, 55/51 IAD (same size as MD) and 6/6 ID; IAD series creates a second row along MD series without obvious subdivisions.

Legs ( Figs. 57–60 View Figures 53–64 ). Tibia and tarsomeres of legs with several macrosetae not arranged into bristle combs. Basitarsi of legs I– II with two rows of dense, thin, short spinules, but both absent on legs III–IV; a pair of pedal spurs present on the ventrodistal margins of all basitarsi. Telotarsi of legs I–IV with a row of stout, short ventromedian spinules (5–8 in number) of which two are always paired on the distal end. Ungues moderate in length, stout and curved. Carinae on femur and patella indicated by highly discrete granules.

Measurements. See Table 1.

SEXUAL DIMORPHISM. The female paratype ( Figs. 3–4 View Figures 1–4 , 9–12 View Figures 5–12 , 19–24 View Figures 19–24 , 31–36 View Figures 25–36 , 43–48 View Figures 37–48 , 51–52 View Figures 49–52 , 55–56, 61–64 View Figures 53–64 , 68–70 View Figures 65–70 ) yielded the following variations (left/right) in four meristics: (1) PTC 8/8; (2) PVTC 9/10; (3) PETC 18/17 external (5/5-4/3-3/3-1/1- 5/5; homologous left trichobothrium esb replaced by a stout macroseta without peripherally elevated orifice, homologous right trichobothria est and esb absent); (4) FDC: 13/13-84/85- 54/58-7/7, 7 th left OD slightly integrated into the MD series. This single adult female examined here was smaller than the adult male, which is not considered as a sexual dimorphism since it is highly biased by the sample size (Yunnan Scorpiops species were often discovered with two size classes of adults). Another sexual dimorphism presented in the morphology of pedipalp where the female had proportionally shorter femur, patella and chelal manus. Other external sexual dimorphisms conformed to those commonly observed in this genus: (1) genital papillae present in male and absent in female; (2) pectines relatively larger with longer pectinal tooth in male; (3) pedipalp movable finger with a weaker lobe in female.

AFFINITIES. The following interspecific differentiations of quantitative characters are based mostly on table 2 in Tang (2023: 18) and partially on the new materials examined. Newly examined S. shidian yielded the following PTC and PVTC variations (left/right): (1) male PTC: 7/7 (n = 1), 7/8 (n = 1), 8/8 (n = 4); (2) female PTC: 8/8 (n = 1); (3) male PVTC: 10/12 (n = 1), 11/11 (n = 1), 12/12 (n = 3), 13/12 (n = 1); (4) female PVTC: 12/12 (n = 1). Newly examined S. xui yielded the following PTC and PVTC variations (left/right): (1) male PTC: 7/7 (n = 1), 8/8 (n = 1); (2) female PTC: 7/6 (n = 1), 7/7 (n = 2); (3) male PVTC: 10/8 (n = 1), 10/10 (n = 1); (4) female PVTC: 10/9 (n = 1), 10/10 (n = 2). Two newly examined male S. yangi both yielded a PTC (left/right) of 7/7, as well as the following PVTC variations (left/right): 10/10 (n = 1) and 10/11 (n = 1).

Within Yunnan, S. reini sp. n. can be confidently distinguished from all of its congeneric geographic neighbors, namely S. jendeki , S. shidian , S. tongtongi , and S. zhangshuyuani . Its distinction from S. jendeki (cf. Tang et al., 2024) and S. tongtongi (cf. Tang, 2023) is quite obvious and hence omitted. The new species appears to be more akin to S. shidian and S. zhangshuyuani owing to their elongated pedipalps (cf. Figs. 71–75 View Figures 71–75 ). However, the pedipalp chelae of those two species are nonetheless more slender (cf. Tang, 2023: figs. 109, 111, 133, 135), especially when comparing the adult males. Moreover, the proximal lobe on pedipalp movable finger is prominently stronger in S. reini sp. n. than the other two species (cf. Tang, 2023: figs. 110, 112, 134, 136). These two major distinctions also allow for the differentiation between S. reini sp. n. and a geographically more distant species, S. xui from Menglian County, Puer City (cf. Tang, 2023: figs. 125–128). Both S. shidian and S. zhangshuyuani also possess a slightly higher number of PVTC (10–13 and 11–12, respectively) than the new species (10–11). The new species (9–10 in male and 8 in female) shares an overlapped PTC with S. zhangshuyuani (9 in male and 7–8 in females), yet at least their females differ in the morphology of pectinal teeth (cf. Tang, 2022b: fig. 225). On the contrary, although the female PTCs are overlapped between S. reini sp. n. (8) and S. shidian (6–8), those of their males are completely separated (9–10 vs. 7–8 in S. shidian ). Intraspecific variation of chelal and pectinal morphology in S. shidian can be inferred from Tang (2022b: figs. 122–129, 134–147).

Surprisingly, S. reini sp. n. bears a higher degree of resemblance to its geographically most distant congeners within Yunnan, S. validus from Honghe Prefecture and S. yangi from Wenshan Prefecture. All three species are characterized by the moderately elongated and relatively more robust chelae in both sexes. However, both sexes of S. validus possess a pair of evidently stronger finger lobe and notch than S. reini sp. n., especially when comparing the males (cf. Tang, 2023: figs. 122, 124). Contrarily, S. yangi is distinguished by its relatively weak lobe in both sexes (cf. Tang, 2023: figs. 130, 132). When comparing their PTCs, both S. validus (6–8 in males and 6–7 in females) and S. yangi (6–7 in males and 5–6 in females) are well separated from S. reini sp. n. by their lower counts in both sexes. PVTC proved to be useless in differentiating these three species ( S. reini sp. n.: 9–11; S. validus : 8–11; S. yangi : 9–11). Intraspecific variation of chelal and pectinal morphology in S. validus can be inferred from Tang (2022b: figs. 186–195, 201–210). Among adult males, S. reini sp. n. apparently represents the largest species of this genus known from Yunnan, although the holotype male was only slightly bigger than the largest male S. validus examined by the author. On the other hand, the paratype female was slightly smaller than the largest female S. validus examined by the author. However, both adults of S. reini sp. n. possessed notably more robust metasoma and larger telson than S. validus ( Fig. 75 View Figures 71–75 ). The relatively slenderer metasoma and telson are consistent among all examined S. validus .

Beyond Yunnan (also within the entire genus), S. reini sp. n. is most reminiscent of S. beccaloniae ( Kovařík, 2005) from Mali Hka Valley (Kachin Hills, Myanmar), a species which we originally presumed to represent the type specimens (i.e., as a new record in China). This species was described based on a single adult male, characterized by a slightly lower PTC (8–9 vs. 9–10) and a slightly higher PVTC (12 vs. 10–11) than our new species. Those two values are not considered reliable given the fact that males of both species were based on a single specimen. Their meristics of PETC (18 vs. 17–19), OD (12–13 vs. 13) and IAD (50 vs. 51–58) are also close or overlapped. Although the counts of their ID (4 vs. 6–7) and MD (65 vs. 84–85) appear to differ more considerably, the differences are generally not significant enough to guarantee the interspecific distinction when referencing to the empirically observed intraspecific variation in Yunnan Scorpiops (cf. Tang, 2023: table 2). Nonetheless, their difference in the count of MD may still be relatively reliable, but more specimens are required to confirm its phenotypic stability. Both species fall into the type A position of trichobothrium Eb 3 ( Kovařík et al., 2020: table 9); both species possess a pair of proportionally large median ocelli, a subtriangular carapacial anteromedian notch and a relatively robust metasoma (cf. Kovařík, 2005: fig. 13). The pectines were scored as type P4 (definition: 3 marginal and 1–5 middle lamellae) for S. beccaloniae in Kovařík et al. (2020: table 9). However, this character was deemed unstable by Tang (2022b: 34) given its presence of all four types in a single species, S. shidian . Likewise, the female paratype of our new species conformed to type P2 (definition: marginal lamellae I and III present, marginal lamella II not delimited, but connected with middle lamella forming a single compact unit), while the holotype male seemed to match both P2 and P3 (definition: two marginal and 1–4 middle lamellae); this is not regarded as a sexual dimorphism. In light of these, the differentiation between the males of the two species is mainly reliant upon their pedipalp chela morphology with the following distinctions proposed (cf. Figs. 80–81 View Figures 76–84 ): (1) finger lobe and notch more pronounced in S. beccaloniae ; (2) chelal manus proportionally shorter with respect to its fixed finger in S. beccaloniae ; (3) chelal manus proximally dilated (dorsointernal carina slanted inwards) in S. beccaloniae , while it is proximally narrowed (dorsointernal carina curved) in S. reini sp. n.; (4) chelal manus carinae composed of large, pointed, highly discrete granules in S. beccaloniae ; whereas those granules are smaller and denser in S. reini sp. n. The fourth qualitative character (can be, for example, quantified by the number of granules present within a section of the carina with a cutoff boundary delimited by the condyle) is currently deemed as the most conspicuous and reliable distinction between the two species.

The validity of this new species against other known Yunnan congeners is supported genetically based on six offspring from the paratype female (unpublished). Due to practical constraints, these results, along with several other new discoveries, will be integrated into a more comprehensive review of this genus in China in a subsequent publication.

DISTRIBUTION. Known only from the type locality. This species is sympatric with S. tongtongi and S. zhangshuyuani according to the photographic records by the anonymous collector, which is also confirmed by the recorded localities of those species (Fig. 130). The discovery of the new species has rendered Yingjiang County (as well as Dehong Prefecture) the most speciose region for Scorpiops .