Neobisium (Neobisium) cerrutii Beier, 1955

Gardini, Giulio, 2023, The troglomorphic pseudoscorpions of the genus Neobisium from Corsica, Sardinia and mainland Italy, with description of new species (Pseudoscorpiones: Neobisiidae), Zootaxa 5381 (1), pp. 1-67 : 27-29

Neobisium (Neobisium) cerrutii Beier, 1955

( Figs 48–53 , 119 )

Neobisium (Blothrus) cerrutii Beier, 1955: 26 , fig. 1.

Type locality: Italy, Latium, Frosinone Province, Guarcino, Grotta di San Luca 13 La /FR (41°48’19”N 13°19’31”E) .

Distribution. Italy (Latium).

Diagnosis (♂). A subterranean, troglomorphic Neobisium from Latium (Ernici Mountains) that differs from other Mediterranean species of the genus in the following combination of characters: posterior margin of carapace with 6 setae, epistome triangular, anterior eyes with weak lens, dark integument between anterior and posterior eyes faint; tergites I–IV: 5:6:6:7; cheliceral palm with 6–7 setae, rallum with 8 blades; fixed chelal finger irregularly and weakly heterodentate, with contiguous teeth; fixed and movable chelal fingers with 122 and 106 teeth, respectively; pedipalpal femur 1.63–1.79 mm length (6.52–7.46 ×), patella 1.22–1.35 mm (4.43–4.73 ×), movable finger 1.74– 1.96 mm; pedipalpal hand with long oval profile and its greatest width in the proximal third, chelal fingers slightly curved; ratio between movable finger and hand of chela with pedicel 1.51–1.64; ratio between pedipalpal femur and movable chelal finger 0.91–0.93; ratio between pedipalpal femur and carapace 1.58–1.79; trichobothrium ist distal or just distal st, closer to the finger tip than to isb.

Type material examined. ITALY — Latium: Frosinone Prov. : 1 ♂ (holotype) , “ Lazio – Gr. di San Luca [ Grotta di San Luca 13 La/FR] / 13.II.55 S. Patrizi / Neobisium (Blothr.) cerrutii n. sp. / det. Beier Type ” “27202” ( NHMW) [Very delicate, diaphanous specimen; right pedipalp dissected by Beier] .

Non-type material examined. ITALY — Latium: Frosinone Prov.: 1♂, North Eastern Ernici Mountains, Mt Vermicano , Guarcino , Grotta Capomanipolo Barrieri n.c. (near Risorgenza del Risorghiotto 1033 La /FR, 1040 m a.s.l., 41°48’50”N 13°20’11”E), 8.III.1981, A. Gobetti leg. [Specimen in poor condition: opisthosome wizened and left leg IV missing] .

Description of adults (♂, ♀ unknown) (Holotype data in square brackets). Carapace, chelicerae, pedipalps and palpal coxae red-brown; pedipalps smooth, pleural membrane granular. Carapace 1.47 times as long as broad, with four eyes without tapetum ( Fig. 48 ), dark integument between anterior and posterior eyes faint; anterior eyes with slightly convex lens (diameter 0.07 mm), the posterior ones reduced, with weak lens, smaller than the anterior ones; anterior margin of carapace with triangular epistome, apically rounded ( Fig. 48 ); [22] macrosetae, anterior and posterior rows with 4 and 6 macrosetae, respectively, besides 1 preocular seta on each side. [Chaetotaxy of tergites I–X: 5:6:6:7:7:8:7:7:7:7]. Chelicera ( Fig. 49 ) 1.98 times as long as broad, palm with [7] 6 setae; fixed and movable fingers with worn teeth, movable finger with a more prominent tooth just distal gs; gs ratio 0.62, spinneret not very prominent and broadly rounded; rallum with 8 blades, the distal one laterally serrate-pinnate and isolated on a prominence, the second one serrate, the successive ones smooth, the proximal one very short. Manducatory process with 5 setae. Anterolateral process of coxa I prominent, anteromedial process broadly rounded with denticles ( Fig. 50 ). Pedipalp [ Beier 1955: 26, fig. 1] ( Figs 51–53 ): trochanter 2.8 times as long as broad, with 3 weak button-like tubercles (with lyrifissure) on antiaxial face; femur [7.46] 6.52 times as long as broad, weakly enlarged distally; patella [4.73] 4.43 times as long as broad, club gradually enlarged distally, ratio between club and pedicel [2.1] 1.8, ratio X/Y = 0.38, base of pedicel dorsally with 4 glandular pores; chela with pedicel [6.39] 6.45 times as long as broad; hand of chela with pedicel [2.49] 2.73 times as long as broad, with long oval profile and its greatest width in the proximal third (dorsal view) ( Fig. 52 ); chelal fingers slightly curved both in dorsal and lateral view ( Figs 52–53 ); fixed chelal finger irregularly and weakly heterodentate ( Fig. 53 ), with 122 pointed contiguous teeth, nodus ramosus subterminal; movable chelal finger with 106 low, flattened contiguous teeth, also in the distal third of the finger; all teeth with dental canals; sensillum just closer to st than sb; trichobothria as in figs 52–53 and in Beier (1955: 26, fig. 1); relative position of trichobothria along chelal axis: it [0.10]–0.13/ et [0.145]–0.145/ est [0.19]–0.21/ ist [0.27]– 0.285/ isb [0.81]–0.82/ ib [0.87]–0.89/ esb [0.92]–0.96/ eb [0.93]–0.97/ t [0.23]–0.19/ st [0.39]–0.31/ sb [0.76]–0.73/ b [0.89]–0.89; [trichobothrium est just distal t] or at level of t; [trichobothrium ist distal st] or just distal st, closer to the finger tip than to isb; trichobothrium isb proximal sb; ratio between movable finger and hand of chela with pedicel [1.64] 1.51; ratio between pedipalpal femur and movable finger [0.91] 0.93; ratio between pedipalpal femur and carapace [1.79] 1.58. Leg IV: ratio between basitarsus and telotarsus 0.76, subterminal seta furcate, claws with small dorsal tooth.

Measurements. Body length [3.5]. Carapace 1.03 × 0.70 anteriorly. Chelicera 0.615 × 0.31; movable finger length 0.395. Pedipalp: trochanter 0.70 × 0.25; femur [1.79]–1.63 × [0.24]–0.25; patella [1.35]–1.22 × [0.285]– 0.275; chela with pedicel [3.07]–2.71 × [0.48]–0.42 (depth [?]–0.41); hand with pedicel length [1.195]–1.15; movable finger length [1.96]–1.74. Leg IV: femur + patella length [?]–1.44; tibia [?]–1.28 × [?]–0.135; basitarsus [?]–0.61 × [?]–0.11; telotarsus [?]–0.80 × [?]–0.10.

Remarks. Neobisium cerrutii was described by Beier (1955) based on a male from Latium (Grotta di San Luca 13 La/FR, Guarcino) and compared with N. patrizii from Latium (Grotta degli Ausi 342 La/LT, Prossedi), at that time the only specialized subterranean Neobisium species known from central Italy: both species were still referred by Beier (1955) to the subgenus Blothrus . The two species are easily distinguishable by the number of setae at the posterior margin of carapace and on tergite I (6 and 5–6, respectively, in N. cerrutii , 4 and 4 in N. patrizii ), but above all for the evident troglomorphism that characterizes N. patrizii , which is larger and has more slender appendages than N. cerrutii (see Key to species).

Neobisium cerrutii has similar troglomorphism and similar shape of the pedipalps to N. battonii and N. samniticum , both known from caves of Abruzzo (Grotta Risorgenza di Stiffe 17 A/AQ and Grotta delle Praie 80 A/ PE, respectively). N. cerrutii differs from N. battonii in having the fixed finger of the pedipalps weakly heterodentate (homodentate in N. battonii ), the chelal fingers with a greater number of teeth (fixed and movable fingers with 174 and 122 teeth, respectively, in N. cerrutii ; 118 and 103 teeth in N. battonii ), slightly larger dimensions (pedipalpal femur length 1.63–1.79 mm, chela 2.71–3.07 mm, movable finger 1.74–1.96 mm in N. cerrutii ; pedipalpal femur length 1.50 mm, chela 2.50 mm, movable finger 1.62 mm in N. battonii ) and slender pedipalps (pedipalpal femur 6.52–7.46 times as long as broad, chela × 6.39–6.45 in N. cerrutii ; pedipalpal femur 6.0 times as long as broad, chela × 5.75 in N. battonii ).

For comparisons of N. cerrutii with N. sp. aff. patrizii and N. samniticum see Remarks under the latter species.

The above redescription of N. cerrutii is based on a partial examination of the holotype, given its precarious state of preservation, which has allowed me to rectify some measurements of pedipalp reported by Beier (1955). The second specimen examined and drawn ( Figs 48–53 ), also poor preserved, was collected in a cave about 1.4 km from the type locality, in the same karst complex. The few differences found between the two specimens (e.g. number of setae on cheliceral palm and position of the trichobothrium et relative to it and to est) may be part of the normal variability of the species.

Figures

FIGURE 119. Map depicting known distribution of Neobisum species with troglomorphic facies from central and southern Italy.

FIGURES 48–53. Neobisium (N.) cerrutii Beier, 1955, male, Grotta Capomanipolo Barrieri (Guarcino, Latium). 48, anterior margin of carapace; 49, right chelicera, dorsal view; 50, anterior processes of right coxa I; 51, trochanter, femur and patella of right pedipalp, dorsal view; 52, right pedipalpal chela, dorsal view; 53, same, antiaxial view, with magnified details of teeth.