Charinus diblemma Simon, 1936

Miranda, Gustavo Silva de, Giupponi, Alessandro P. L., Prendini, Lorenzo & Scharff, Nikolaj, 2021, Systematic revision of the pantropical whip spider family Charinidae Quintero, 1986 (Arachnida, Amblypygi), European Journal of Taxonomy 772, pp. 1-409 : 139

Charinus diblemma Simon, 1936 , nomen dubium

Charinus diblemma Simon in Fage & Simon, 1936: 301.

Charinus diblemma – Fage 1939: 155. — Weygoldt 1972b: 123; 1994: 244; 2000b: 340, 346. — Delle Cave 1986: 152, fig. II (designated as nomen dubium).

Etymology

Although the etymology of the species name was unspecified, ‘ diblemma ’ refers to the presence of two eyes, from the Latin ‘ di -‘ (‘two’) and the Greek ‘ blemma ’ (‘glance’), as Simon (1936) considered this species to possess only the median pair.

Type material

Holotype TANZANIA • juv.; Zanzibar Island , Grotte de Haitajwa ; [06°15′18.92″ S, 39°15′31.50″ E]; 24 Apr. 1912; Alluaud and Jeannel leg.; MNHN 537 .

Remarks

The holotype is small and very whitish, making it difficult to see details, and the opisthosoma is missing, but some characters could be observed. In the original description, Simon (1936) mentioned that C. diblemma lacks lateral eyes, but small, whitish lateral eyes, were evident near the lateral margin of the carapace. The median eyes were also present. The sternum platelets were not yet formed. The cheliceral claw bears five teeth but it was impossible to observe teeth on the basal segment. Two dorsal spines and three ventral spines were evident on the pedipalp femur; three or four dorsal spines and two ventral spines were evident on the patella; and two dorsal spines on the tarsus. The tibia and tarsus of antenniform leg I comprise 21 and 37 articles, respectively. The basitibia of leg IV consists of three pseudo-articles.

The immaturity and poor preservation of the holotype renders it impossible to form an opinion regarding the taxonomic validity of C. diblemma until such time as adults can be collected from the vicinity of the type locality. Delle Cave (1986) designated C. diblemma as nomen dubium, not by Weygoldt (1994), as stated in Harvey (2003, 2013).