Uroplectes chubbi, Hirst, 1911

Prendini, Lorenzo, 2015, Three new Uroplectes (Scorpiones: Buthidae) with punctate metasomal segments from tropical central Africa, American Museum Novitates 2015 (3840), pp. 1-32 : 3

AFFINITIES WITH UROPLECTES CHUBBI

Based on the following combination of characters, the three new species appear to be most closely related to Uroplectes chubbi Hirst, 1911 , a poorly collected and taxonomically confused species recorded from Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe ( Newlands and Martindale, 1980; FitzPatrick, 1996, 2001; Fet and Lowe, 2000; Prendini, 2005a): metasoma, lateral and ventral surfaces smooth, acarinate and markedly punctate (fig. 2B, D, F), segments IV and V more setose than preceding segments, especially on dorsosubmedian and dorsolateral carinae; telson vesicle, lateral and ventral surfaces smooth, acarinate and markedly punctate, with small, blunt subaculear tubercle, ventral surfaces moderately setose, becoming more so distally at base of aculeus and around subaculear tubercle; metasoma and telson, base coloration progressively darkening posteriorly, with segment IV, and to a greater extent, segment V and telson, darker than preceding segments; chela manus, prodorsal surface with multiple spiniform granules and macrosetae distally (especially in adult male).

Several paratypes of U. zambezicus , sp. nov., were previously misidentified as U.chubbi ( FitzPatrick, 1996, 2001). However, this species, as well as U. malawicus , sp. nov., and U. katangensis , sp. nov., differ markedly from U.chubbi in the following respects. Adults of the three new species are smaller (total length, 20–29 mm, average 25 mm, n = 25) than adults of U. chubbi (total length, 29–41 mm, average 35 mm, n = 12). Their habitus is robust and compact, the pedipalps shorter, with a broader chela manus (more so in the adult male) and shorter fingers, and the metasomal segments and telson short and broad (more so in the adult female), whereas the habitus of U. chubbi is gracile, the pedipalps longer and more slender, with a narrower chela manus and longer fingers (more so in the adult female), and the metasomal segments and telson longer and narrower (more so in the adult male). The difference in habitus is consistent with the difference in habitat between U. chubbi , which is epigeic and corticolous ( Prendini, 2001), and the three new species, two of which are hemiedaphic and corticolous or lapidicolous (no data are available for U. katangensis , sp. nov.).

The three new species also differ from U. chubbi in coloration, being generally more infuscate (fig. 2B, D, F) than the latter. The carapace is mostly infuscate in the new species, whereas the carapace is immaculate, except for an infuscate median band, in U. chubbi . The tergites of the new species are also mostly infuscate, except for an immaculate median stripe in U. zambezicus , sp. nov., whereas the tergites of U. chubbi are mostly immaculate, except for two narrow infuscate stripes submedially and another two sublaterally. The chelicerae are partially infuscate in U. malawicus , sp. nov., and U. katangensis , sp. nov., whereas they are immaculate in U. zambezicus , sp. nov., and U. chubbi . The pedipalp chela manus of the three new species is infuscate, contrasting with the mostly or entirely immaculate chela fingers, patella, femur, and trochanter, whereas the pedipalp of U. chubbi is immaculate, except for the chela fingers, which are infuscate. Finally, the dorsomedian surfaces of metasomal segments I–IV are more concave and coarsely shagreened in the new species than in U. chubbi . Indeed, the markedly concave, shagreened dorsomedian surfaces on metasomal segments I–IV of these species resemble the stridulatory surfaces on the metasomal segments of most Parabuthus Pocock, 1890 ( Prendini, 2004b; Prendini and Esposito, 2010) and, together with the robust metasoma and worn tips of the aculeus observed in some specimens, suggest that these species may also be capable of stridulation.