Charmus Karsch, 1879

Kovařík, František, Lowe, Graeme, Ranawana, Kithsiri B., Hoferek, David & Š, V. A., 2016, Scorpions of Sri Lanka (Scorpiones Buthidae, Chaerilidae, Scorpionidae) with description of four new species of the genera Charmus Karsch, 1879 and Reddyanus Vachon, 1972, stat n, Euscorpius 220, pp. 1-133 : 17-20

Genus Charmus Karsch, 1879

( Figs. 12 , 41–43 , 47–119 , 194 , 423–426 , 548, Tables 1– 2 )

Charmus Karsch, 1879: 104 ; Kraepelin, 1899: 39; Pocock, 1900: 31–32; Kraepelin, 1913: 131; Vachon, 1982: 79, 81; Tikader & Bastawade, 1983: 140–152, figs. 382–416; Sissom, 1990: 101; Kovařík, 1998: 120; Lourenço, 2000: 295; Kovařík, Soleglad & Fet, 2007: 201; Kovařík, 2009: 31.

= Heterocharmus Pocock, 1892: 46–47 ,

type species by monotypy Heterocharmus cinctipes Pocock, 1892 (= Charmus laneus Karsch, 1879 ) (syn. by Kraepelin, 1899: 39; Pocock, 1900: 31).

TYPE SPECIES. Charmus laneus Karsch, 1879

DIAGNOSIS. Small buthids, adults 12 mm (male) – 23.5 mm (female). Sternum type 1, subpentagonal, roughly as wide as long, exhibiting horizontal compression. Pedipalps trichobothrial pattern Aα; femur trichobothrium d 2 located dorsally, patella d 3 dorsal of dorsomedian carina; chela with 3 Eb trichobothria on manus. Movable finger of pedipalp longer than manus. Pectines with or without fulcra. Dentate margin of pedipalp chela movable finger with distinct granules divided into 8–9 linear rows, apical rows of 4–6 granules, and 3 terminal granules. Cheliceral fixed finger armed with two denticles on ventral surface ( Fig. 67a ). Tergites I –VI granular, with one clearly visible carina. Carapace granular without carinae, anterior edge with epistome present medially. Metasomal segments IV–V punctate without developed carinae. Telson vesicle punctate, without subaculear tooth. Pedipalps, metasoma and telson densely hirsute. Legs III and IV with well developed long tibial spurs, first and second tarsomeres with ventral setae.

NOTE. A remarkable feature of the metasoma and telson of Charmus laneus is the extremely dense pubescence ( Figs. 71–73 ). All segments bear an abundance of fine setae of various lengths emerging from pits containing sockets or perforations in the thickened cuticle. These setae can be divided into at least two types: (1) straight or uniformly curved, non-fluorescent golden setae; and (2) terminally curved, brightly fluorescent, translucent setae with intense pinpoint fluorescence at the tip ( Figs. 6 8–70 ). Comparing these setae to similar kinds of setae found in other scorpions, we suggest that type 1 setae may be mechanoreceptive and tactile, and type 2 setae may be chemoreceptive in function. Putative chemotactic microsetae in other scorpions are typically also fluorescent and exhibit a similar, apically curved shape, but are usually quite short compared to the long fluorescent setae seen here. A similar densely hirsute metasoma is also present in C. saradieli sp. n. and was also described in the other two known members of the genus, C. indicus Hirst , 1 915 and C. singhagadensis Tikader et Bastawade, 1983 (Sreenivasa Reddy, 1966: 247–256; Tikader & Bastawade, 1983: 140–152). A similar, probably homologous development of dense setation is also observed in the closely related genus Thaicharmus ( Kovařík, 1995, 2013; Mirza et. al., 2016). This massive concentration of multimodal sensory input indicates that Charmus is another example of the evolution of the metasoma into a specialized sensory organ. As noted previously, this has apparently occurred independently in several different buthid lineages, e.g. Butheoloides Hirst, 1925 ; Isometroides Keyserling, 1885 ; Karasbergia Hewitt, 1914 ; Microbuthus Kraepelin, 1898 ; Orthochirus Karsch, 1892 ; etc. (E. Fet et al., 2003; Lourenço, 2001, 2003; Lowe, 2010; Prendini, 2004).

DISTRIBUTION. India, Sri Lanka.

Figures

Figures 12–15: Maps showing the known geographical distribution of the Sri Lankan species.

Figures 39–46: Chela of pedipalps (39–45) and movable finger of chela (46). Figures 39–40. Buthoscorpio sarasinorum, male from locality 15CF (39) and female from locality 15CG (40). Figures 41–43. Charmus laneus, male (41) and female (42) from locality 15CO, and female holotype (43). Figure 44. Charmus saradieli, sp. n., female holotype. Figures 45–46. Hottentotta tamulus, male from locality 15CK.

Figures 47–53: Figure 47. Left hemispermatophore of Buthoscorpio sarasinorum from locality 15CF. Figures 48–53. Charmus laneus from locality 15CO. Figure 48. Left hemispermatophore. Figures 49–53. Capsule region and flagellum. External (49), dorsal (50), internal (51) and ventral (52) views of left hemispermatophore, and externo-dorsal (53) view of right hemispermatophore presented as mirror image for comparison. Scale bars: 1 mm for 47, 500 µm for 48, 250 µm for 49–52, and 200 µm for 53. Abbreviations: bl, basal lobe; f, flagellum; ml, median lobe; mlc, median lobe carina; pr, pars recta of flagellum; prf, pars reflecta of flagellum; t, trunk.

Figures 54–59: Charmus laneus from locality 15CO. Figures 54–55. Male 14.7 mm long in dorsal (54) and ventral (55) views. Figures 56–57. Juvenile male 7.5 mm long in dorsal (56) and ventral (57) views. Figures 58–59. Female 20.1 mm long in dorsal (58) and ventral (59) views.

Figures 60–63: Charmus laneus from locality 15CO. Figures 60, 62. Male, chelicerae, carapace and tergites I–III (60) and sternopectinal region and sternites III–VII (62). Figures 61, 63. Female, chelicerae, carapace and tergites I–III (61) and sternopectinal region and sternite III (63).

Figures 64–65: Charmus laneus from locality 15CO, showing granulation and color pattern of male. Chelicerae, carapace and tergites (64). Coxosternal region and sternites (65). Scale bar: 500 µm.

Figures 66–67: Left chelicera of male Charmus laneus from locality 15CO. Figures 66–67. Dorsal (66) and ventral (67a) view (white light + UV), and ventroexternal (67b) aspect (UV) showing 2 denticles on ventral surface of fixed finger (d1, d2). Scale bar: 200 µm.

Figures 68–70: Charmus laneus, male from locality 15CO. Metasoma V and telson under UV fluorescence, showing granulation, punctuation and setation in dorsal (68), lateral (69) and ventral (70) views. Scale bar: 500 µm.

Figures 71–73: Metasoma and telson of Charmus laneus male from locality 15CO, showing granulation, punctuation, setation and color pattern in dorsal (71), lateral (72) and ventral (73) views. Scale bar: 1 mm.

Figures 74–79: Charmus laneus from locality 15CO. Figures 74–76. Male, metasoma and telson, lateral (74), ventral (75), and dorsal (76) views. Figures 77–79. Female, metasoma and telson, lateral (77), ventral (78), and dorsal (79) views.

Figures 80–84: Comparing Sri Lankan Charmus female metasomas. Figures 80–82. Female holotype of Charmus laneus, metasoma and telson, lateral (80), ventral (81), and dorsal (82) views. Figures 83. Female of Charmus laneus from locality 15CO, metasoma and telson dorsal. Figures 84. Female holotype of Charmus saradieli sp. n. (MHNG) metasoma and telson dorsal.

Figures 85–87: Charmus. Figures 85–86. Male (85) and female (86) of Charmus laneus from locality 15CO. Figure 87. Male paratype of Charmus saradieli sp. n. (UPSL).

Figures 88–91: Charmus saradieli sp. n. Figures 88–89. Male paratype (MHNG) in dorsal (88) and ventral (89) views, and original labels. Figures 90–91. Female holotype in dorsal (90) and ventral (91) views, and original labels. Scale bar: 5 mm.

Figures 92–100: Charmus. Figures 92–95, 99–100. Charmus saradieli sp. n., male paratype (MHNG), chelicerae, carapace and tergites I–IV (92), sternopectinal region and sternites III–IV (94), and telson lateral (99); female holotype, chelicerae, carapace and tergites I–III (93), sternopectinal region and sternite III (95), and telson lateral (100). Figures 96–98. Charmus laneus, female holotype, chelicera and carapace (96), original label (97), and sternopectinal region and sternites III–IV (98).

Figures 101–106: Charmus saradieli sp. n. Figures 101–103. Male paratype (MHNG), metasoma and telson, lateral (101), ventral (102), and dorsal (103) views. Figures 104–106. Female holotype, metasoma and telson, lateral (104), ventral (105), and dorsal (106) views.

Figures 107–119: Charmus. Figures 107–114. Charmus saradieli sp. n., female holotype. Pedipalp movable finger (107). Pedipalp chela, dorsal (108), external (109), and ventral (110) views. Pedipalp patella, dorsal (111) and external (112) views. Pedipalp femur and trochanter, internal (113) and dorsal (114) views. The trichobothrial pattern is indicated in Figures 108a– 114a. Figures 115–117. Charmus saradieli sp. n., male paratype (MHNG), chelicerae (115), pedipalp dorsal (116), and fourth leg dorsal (117). Figures 118–119. Charmus laneus from locality 15CO. Pedipalp dorsal of male (118) and female (119).

Figures 193–200: Distal segments of leg IV, retroventral view of Sri Lankan Buthidae and Chaerilidae genera. Buthoscorpio sarasinorum, male from locality 15CF (193), Charmus laneus, male from locality 15CO (194), Hottentotta tamulus, male from locality 15CK (195), Isometrus maculatus, female from locality 15CI (196), Isometrus thwaitesi, female from locality 15CO (197), Lychas srilankensis, male from locality 15CJ (198), Reddyanus basilicus, male from locality 15CS (199), and Chaerilus ceylonensis, male from locality 15CD (200).

Figures 403–429: Telson, lateral view of Sri Lankan Buthidae and Chaerilidae species. Figures 403–404. Isometrus maculatus, male from locality 15CP (403) and female from locality 15CI (404). Figures 405–406. I. thwaitesi, male from locality 15CH (405) and female from locality 15CO (406). Figures 407–408. Lychas srilankensis, male (407) and female (408) from locality 15CJ. Figures 409–410. Reddyanus basilicus, male (409) and female (410) from locality 15CR. Figures 411–412. R. besucheti, male holotype (411) and female from locality 15CG (412). Figures 413–414. R. ceylonensis sp. n., male holotype (413) and female paratype (414) from locality 15CI. Figures 415–416. R. jayarathnei sp. n., male (415) and female (416) paratypes. Figures 417–418. R. loebli, male (417) and female (418) from locality 15CG. Figures 419–420. R. ranawanai sp. n., male holotype (419) and female paratype (420). Figures 421–422: Buthoscorpio sarasinorum, male from locality 15CF (421) and female from locality 15CG (422). Figures 423–424. Charmus laneus, male (423) and female (424) from locality 15CO. Figures 425–426. Charmus saradieli sp. n. male paratype (425) (MHNG) and female holotype (426). Figurs 427. Hottentotta tamulus, male from locality 15CK (427). Figures 428–429. Chaerilus ceylonensis, male (428) and female (429) from locality 15CD.

Figures 5–11: Figure 5. The reserarch team at a field station in the locality 15CB. Figure 6. Tea time in Girithale Wildlife Training Center close to the locality 15CD. From left P. Devasurendra, F. Kovařík and K. B. Ranawana. Figure 7. P. Rajkumar (Environmental Research, Jaffna), F. Kovařík and local people in the locality 15CK video recording Hottentotta tamulus. Figure 8. S. Jayarathne taking a picture of a dangerous snake Hypnale hypnale in the locality 15CD. Figure 9. Herpetologist S. Goonewardene and F. Kovařík in the locality 15CN. Figure 10. Meeting chief monk, in Monaragala "Sri Sambodhi Viharaya", who has helped to research scorpions in the locality 15CQ. Figure 11. Profesor K. B. Ranawana in his office at University of Peradeniya.

Figures 16–19: Buthoscorpio sarasinorum. Figures 16–17. Male from locality 15CF in dorsal (16) and ventral (17) views. Figures 18–19. Female from locality 15CG in dorsal (18) and ventral (19) views.

Figures 20–23: Buthoscorpio sarasinorum. Figures 20, 22. Male from locality 15CF, chelicerae, carapace and tergites I–III (20) and sternopectinal region and sternite III (22). Figures 21, 23. Female from locality 15CG, chelicerae, carapace and tergites I–III (21) and sternopectinal region and sternite III (23).

Figures 24–29: Buthoscorpio sarasinorum. Figures 24–26. Male from locality 15CF, metasoma and telson, lateral (24), ventral (25), and dorsal (26) views. Figures 27–29. Female from locality 15CG, metasoma and telson, lateral (27), ventral (28), and dorsal (29) views.

Figures 30–33: Capsule region and flagellum of left hemispermatophore of Buthoscorpio sarasinorum from locality 15CF. External (30), dorsal (31), internal (32) and ventral (33) views. Note: damaged section of pars reflecta of flagellum is interpolated as a dotted outline. Scale bar: 500 µm. Abbreviations: bl, basal lobe; f, flagellum; ml, median lobe; mlc, median lobe carina; pr, pars recta of flagellum; prf, pars reflecta of flagellum; t, trunk.

Figures 34–38: Buthoscorpio sarasinorum. Figures 34. Male at locality 15CF. Figures 35. Female at locality 15CS under UV. Figures 36–38. Female from locality 15CF (36) with newborns (37), and with juveniles after first ecdysis (38).