Euscorpius ossae Di Caporiacco, 1950

Fet, Victor, Soleglad, Michael E., Parmakelis, Aristeidis, Kotsakiozi, Panayiota & Stathi, Iasmi, 2013, Three more species of Euscorpius confirmed for Greece (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae), Euscorpius 165, pp. 1-27 : 16-22

Euscorpius ossae Di Caporiacco, 1950 , stat. nov.

( Figures 33–48; Tables 1–2)

Euscorpius carpathicus ossae Di Caporiacco, 1950: 202 .

REFERENCES:

Euscorpius carpathicus tergestinus: Simon, 1885: 214 .

Euscorpius carpathicus s.str.: Kinzelbach, 1975: 30, 36 (in part; Mt. Ossa).

Euscorpius carpathicus ossae: Bonacina, 1983: 5 ; Bartolozzi et al., 1987: 297; Lacroix, 1991: 19, figs. 66, 76, 86; Fet & Soleglad, 2007: 419; Tropea & Rossi, 2012: 28, 30, 31; Tropea et al., 2012: 75.

Euscorpius carpathicus: Michalis & Dolkeras, 1989: 261 (in part: Larissa); Fet & Sissom, 2000: 357 (in part; Mt. Ossa).

Euscorpius carpathicus complex, Mt. Ossa population (GenBank AY193824 ): Fet, 2003: 272.

Euscorpius “ carpathicus ” ossae: Fet et al., 2004: 52 ; Kaltsas et al., 2008: 234.

Type material: Lectotype ♂ (designated here), partial ( MZUF, Coll. No. 181, Cat. No. 5982, “ syntypus ”), Greece, Thessaly, Mt. Ossa [“ Tessaglia, Mte. Ossa ”], from Paris Museum [“Museo di Parigi ”], no date, no collector. See Fig. 33 for the labels accompanying lectotype . Paralectotypes: 3 ♀, not found (see Notes).

Geographic range. Greece: Thessaly, Mt. Ossa (Kissavos) mountain range. See map in Fig. 1.

History of Study

The work of Di Caporiacco (1950) was one of the most comprehensive studies of Euscorpius ever published, with validation of many old taxa as subspecies, and description of many new subspecies. However, Di Caporiacco (1950) was mainly concerned with populations from Italy, and had a very limited material available from Greece.

Euscorpius carpathicus ossae has rarely been mentioned in literature. Kinzelbach (1975: 36) listed this Euscorpius carpathicus ossae under question as a synonym of his “ E. carpathicus ”. In Parmakelis et al. (in press), using different species delimitation methods, E. ossae was always supported as a distinct entity, which is here further confirmed by morphological description.

Diagnosis. Medium sized (about 40 mm), brown in color species; pedipalps and metasoma dark mahogany in color. Metasomal carinae in general very underdeveloped. Conspicuous scalloping on male chela. Pedipalp patellar external trichobothria numbers: eb = 4, eba = 4, esb = 2, em = 4, est = 4 and et = 5–6 (usually 5); ventral aspect of patella 7–8 (usually 7). Pectinal tooth counts: females 7–8 (usually 7), males usually 9.

MALE. The following description is based on two males from Mt. Ossa, Thessaly, Greece, including the lectotype. Note, in the lectotype only the metasoma, telson, and pedipalps exist for this specimen, therefore the description of the carapace, mesosoma, chelicerae, legs, and hemispermatophore is based on the second topotypic male ( NHMC 2203 ). Measurements of the lectotype male (partial) and a female are presented in Table 2. See Fig. 34 for the dorsal and ventral views of the female .

COLORATION. Pedipalps dark mahogany in color, carinae and finger dentition dark brown to black. Metasoma and its carinae dark mahogany. Telson vesicle yellowish brown with two darker irregular wide stripes on ventral surface; aculeus dark brown.

CARAPACE ( Fig. 42). Anterior edge slightly convex with a very narrow slight median indentation; slight granulation on lateral edges below lateral eyes, otherwise, smooth and lustrous, lacking any indication of carinae. There are two lateral eyes. Median eyes and tubercle are small to medium in size, positioned slightly anterior of middle with the following length and width ratios: 0.418 (anterior edge to medium tubercle middle / carapace length) and 0.172 (width of median tubercle including eyes / width of carapace at that point).

MESOSOMA. Tergites I–VII essentially smooth; tergite VII lacking lateral and median carinal pairs. Sternites III–VII smooth and lustrous; VII lacking lateral and median carinae. Stigmata are very small, narrow elliptical.

METASOMA ( Fig. 38). Segments very lustrous, segment I wider than long, carinae in general very underdeveloped. Segments I–IV: dorsal carinae weak with scattered low profile granules proximally; dorsolateral carinae essentially obsolete to vestigial and smooth; dorsal (I–IV) carinae terminate with a very small blunted spine; lateral carinae obsolete; ventrolateral carinae obsolete to vestigial on I, and weak, smooth and rounded on II–IV; ventromedian carina obsolete. Dorsolateral carinae of segment IV terminate at articulation condyle. Segment V: dorsolateral carinae obsolete to rounded; lateral carinae obsolete; ventrolateral and single ventromedian carinae irregularly granulate with weak scattered granules. Intercarinal areas of segments I–V smooth.

TELSON ( Fig. 37, female Fig. 40). Vesicle elongated and symmetrically swollen, with short curved aculeus. Vesicle essentially void of granules. Small subaculear tubercle with pair of small setae present at vesicle/ aculeus juncture. Vesicular tabs very weak and smooth.

PECTINES ( Fig. 46, female Fig. 41). Medium-developed segments exhibiting length / width ratio 2.00 (length taken at anterior lamellae / width at widest point includeing teeth). Sclerite construction complex, three anterior lamellae and 4/5 middle lamellae; fulcra of medium development. Teeth number 9/9. Sensory areas developed along distal aspect on all teeth, including basal tooth. Basal piece with wide shallow indentation along anterior edge, length / width ratio 0.413.

GENITAL OPERCULUM ( Fig. 46, female Fig. 41). Sclerites triangular, separated for entire length. Genital papillae present, protruding significantly between the sclerites (see discussion on female below).

STERNUM ( Fig. 46, female Fig. 41). Type 2, posterior emargination present, modestly-defined convex lateral lobes, apex visible but not conspicuous; slightly longer than wide.

CHELICERAE ( Fig. 45). Following description is based on non-type topotypic male. Movable finger dorsal edge with two small subdistal (sd) denticles; ventral edge smooth; serrula not visible. Ventral distal denticle (vd) conspicuously longer than dorsal (dd). Fixed finger with four denticles, median (m) and basal (b) denticles conjoined on common trunk; no ventral accessory denticles present.

PEDIPALPS ( Figs. 35–36, female Fig. 39). Welldeveloped chelae, with medium length fingers, heavily carinated, conspicuous scalloping on chelal fingers: well-developed lobe on movable finger, positioned distal of midpoint in ratio 0.634; strong proximal gap present on fixed finger. Femur: Dorsointernal and dorsoexternal carinae serrated, ventrointernal heavily serrate, ventroexternal rounded with scattered granulation. Dorsal and ventral surfaces finely granulate, internal surface with a row of nine serrated granules, and external surface with a row of 18 serrated granules. Patella: Dorsointernal carina crenulated to serrated; ventrointernal granulated to crenulated, dorsoexternal granulated, and ventroexternal rounded weakly crenulated, and externomedian carina irregularly granulate. Dorsal and ventral surfaces rough with some marbling; external surface marbled with exteromedian carina; internal surface smooth with well-developed DPS which is distally bifurcated and minimal VPS. Chelal carinae: Complies with the “9- carinae configuration”. Digital (D1) carina strong, lustrous, with elongated flat granules; sub-digital (D2) essentially obsolete with two small granules; dorsosecondary (D3) essentially obsolete with flat rounded marbled area; dorsomarginal (D4) rounded, irregularly granulated; dorsointernal (D5) essentially obsolete with flat rounded marbled area; ventroexternal (V1) strong lustrous with elongated flat granules, terminating at external condyle of movable finger; ventromedian (V2) obsolete; ventrointernal (V3) rounded and smooth; external (E) irregularly granulated medially, marbled distally. Chelal finger dentition ( Fig. 44): Median denticle (MD) row groups positioned in straight line on fingers, small gap present at each OD location; 6/6 ID s on fixed finger and 7/7 ID s on movable finger; 5/5 IAD s on fixed and movable fingers; 6/6 OD s on fixed finger and 7/7 OD s on movable finger. Trichobothrial patterns ( Fig. 47): Type C, neobothriotaxic. Chela with 26/26 (left/right) trichobothria; femur with 3/3; and patella with 30/30 (i.e., eb series 4/4, eba 4/4, esb 2/2, em 4/4, est 4/4, et 5/5, and ventral 7/7).

LEGS ( Fig. 43). Both pedal spurs present on all legs, lacking spinelets; tibial spurs absent. Tarsus with single row of stout spinules on ventral surface, terminating distally with a single pair of stout spinules. Unguicular spine well-developed and pointed.

HEMISPERMATOPHORE ( FIG. 48). Lamina with a conspicuous basal constriction, terminus strongly tapered and curving towards the external edge. Well-developed truncal flexure present. Median projection with two highly sclerotized acuminate processes, the primary and secondary. The primary acuminate process has a rounded terminus from the dorsal and ventral perspectives but is somewhat flat from the internodorsal view. The smaller secondary acuminate process, which is positioned at the base of the primary acuminate process, is quite narrow and its terminus is pointed. The internal lobe projecting from the internal edge of the trunk exhibits a crown comprised of eleven small irregularly sized tines whose termini are slightly sclerotized, and one elongated tine which is located on the ventral side.

Sexual dimorphism. The adult female exhibits a subtle proximal gap and movable finger lobe on the chela, whereas they are well developed in the male; the genital operculum sclerites in the female are connected along the middle, not separated as in the male; genital papillae are absent in the female, present in the male. The pectinal tooth counts are smaller in the female, 6–8 (7.25) as compared to 8–10 (9.07) in the male, providing a 25.1 % difference in the means (see Table 1). The telson vesicle in the female is not as swollen as it is in the male, the telson length compared to its depth is 3.233 in the female and 2.404 in the male, exhibiting a 34.5 % difference. The chelal palm in the female is not as swollen as it is in the male, the chelal length compared to its width and depth is 2.957 and 2.588 in the female, and 2.580 and 2.375 in the male, a 14.6 % and 9.0 % difference, respectively.

Variation. In addition to the lectotype male of E. carpathicus ossae , we examined 50 specimens from Mt. Ossa, mostly collected in July 2001 by Prof. M. Mylonas (NHMC) and his students. Of these, 27 specimens were scored for pectinal teeth and trichobothria numbers. Pectinаl teeth number in males usually was 9 (78.6 %), with distribution 8 (1), 9 (11), 10 (2) [n=14], mean 9.07, SD = 0.48. Pectinаl teeth number in females usually varied between 7 (62.5 %) and 8 (30.0%), with distribution 6 (3), 7 (25), 8 (12) [n = 40], mean 7.25, SD = 0.54. Number of ventral patellar trichobothria (Pv) usually varied between 7 (65.4 %) and 8 (27.3 %), with distribution 6 (2), 7 (36), 8 (15), 9 (2) [n = 55], mean 7.29, SD = 0.60. Number of external terminal patellar trichobothria (et) usually varied between 5 (61.8 %) and 6 (36.4 %), with distribution 4 (1), 5 (34), 6 (20) [n = 55], mean 5.36, SD = 0.52.

Material examined. GREECE. Thessaly: Larissa, lectotype ♂, Mt. Ossa, no date, no collector ( MZUF, Coll. No. 181, Cat. No. 5982); Mt. Ossa , no date, no collector , 4 ♀ ( MNHNP RS 3765 , 6792–6795 ); Mt. Ossa , NE slope, 500 m, 20 April 1968, leg. J. Martens , 2 ♂, 1 ♂ sbad. ( SMF); Mt. Ossa , 500–700 m, 20 April 1968, leg. J. Martens , 1 ♀, 1 ♂ ( SMF); Mt. Ossa , mountain refuge, 1550 m, N39°48', E22°41', 29 July 2001, leg. S. Simaiakis , 2 ♀, 1 ♂ ( NHMC 2204 ); Mt. Ossa , summit, 1980 m, 29 July 2001, leg. M. Mylonas , 2 ♂ ( NHMC 2205 ); Mt. Ossa , 1100 m, 30 July 2001, leg. S. Simaiakis , 2 ♂ ( NHMC 2203 ); Mt. Ossa, 1030 m, near Karytsa , 30 July 2001, leg. M. Mylonas , 1 ♀ ( NHMC 2208 ); Mt. Ossa, Karytsa – Anatoli, 18 km before Anatoli , N39°47', E22°45', 31 July 2001, leg. S. Simaiakis , 4 ♂, 8 ♀ ( NHMC 2212 ); Mt. Ossa, 700 m, 7 km before Anatoli , 31 July 2001, leg. M. Mylonas , 3 ♀ ( NHMC 2214 ); Mt. Ossa, Anatoli – Spilia, 5 km before Spilia , 1150 m, N39°45', E22°40', 31 July 2001, leg. M. Mylonas ; 5 ♀ (one with embryos) ( NHMC 2215 ; E. sicanus in the same vial); Mt. Ossa , 29–30 July 2002, leg. M. Mylonas , 1 ♀ ( NHMC); Melivoia, near Larissa , 13 August 1986, leg. K. Michalis & P. Dolkeras , 1 ♀ ( ZMH); Stomion, near Larissa , 12 August 1986, leg. K. Michalis & P. Dolkeras , 1 ♂, 2 ♀ ( ZMH) .