Verrucachernes Chamberlin, 1947

Romero-Ortiz, Catalina & Harvey, Mark S., 2019, The pseudoscorpion genus Verrucachernes (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae) in the Indian region, Zootaxa 4568 (2), pp. 337-346 : 338

Verrucachernes Chamberlin, 1947

Ferrucachernes Chamberlin 1947: 312–313.

Microchernes Beier 1951: 91 (synonymised by Beier 1957: 40).

Type species: Ferrucachernes: Ferrucachernes oca Chamberlin, 1947 , by original designation.

Microchernes : Microchernes orientalis Beier, 1951 , by original designation.

Diagnosis: The genus Verrucachernes is the only known genus of Chernetidae with a single round spermatheca ( Figs. 10 , 18 ).

Remarks: The genus Verrucachernes is widely distributed in the tropics of the Old World, and currently comprises five species: V. oca from tropical Asia and islands in the western Pacific ( Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Indonesia, Marshall Islands, Nepal, Northern Mariana Islands; Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam) ( Harvey 2013), V. montigenus Beier, 1965 from Papua New Guinea ( Beier 1965), V. sublaevis Beier, 1965 from the Indonesian province of West Papua ( Beier 1965), V. spinosus Beier, 1979 from Côte d’Ivoire ( Beier 1979), and V. congicus Beier, 1959 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( Beier 1959). However, only V. oca has been well described, including the original description by Chamberlin (1947), a redescription by Harvey (1988), and two scanning electron micrographs by Schawaller (1994), using the name Pselaphochernes indicus Beier, 1974 . The main diagnostic feature of Verrucachernes is the presence of a single, large, rounded spermathecae which is connected to the gonopore by a slender tube. This contrasts with the majority of other chernetids which have paired spermathecae ( Chernetinae ) or a single T-shaped spermatheca ( Lamprochernetinae ) (e.g. Muchmore 1975; Callaini 1986; Harvey 1995; Mahnert 2009; Harvey et al. 2012). Unfortunately, the spermathecae of V. congicus , V. montigenus , V. sublaevis and V. spinosus are unknown, and their inclusion in Verrucachernes must be considered to be provisional until their spermathecae are examined.

Our study of the type specimens of Withius parvus and Pselaphochernes indicus has demonstrated that they share the main features of Verrucachernes , and we transfer them to this genus and provide redescriptions of the type material.

The removal of P. indicus from Pselaphochernes makes better biogeographic sense, since all other species of the genus are restricted to cooler, temperate ecosystems of the Palaearctic and Nearctic ( Harvey 2013). Indeed, the most easterly records include the widespread P. scorpioides (Hermann, 1804) from Uzbekistan ( Redikorzev 1949, using the name P. macrocheatus Redikorzev, 1949 ) which was redescribed ( Nassirkhani 2018), and P. rybini Scahwaller, 1986 from Kyrgyzstan ( Schawaller 1986).

Figures

FIGURES 9–10. Ferrucachernes indicus (Beier, 1974), paratype female (MHNG): 9, genital sternites, ventral; 10, spermatheca, ventral. Scale lines: 0.1 mm (Fig. 9); 0.05 mm (Fig. 10).

FIGURES 17–18. Ferrucachernes parvus (Beier, 1930), holotype female (SMF 1940): 17, genital sternites, ventral; 18, spermatheca, ventral. Scale lines = 0.1 mm.