Tityus kindli Kovařík et Teruel, 2014

Kovařík, František & Teruel, Rolando, 2014, Three new scorpion species from the Dominican Republic, Greater Antilles (Scorpiones: Buthidae, Scorpionidae), Euscorpius 187, pp. 1-27 : 10-16

Tityus kindli Kovařík et Teruel , sp. n.

( Figures 28–42, 46–48, 50; Tables 2–3) http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8E8E82

3D-88FC-4551-A437-001F25A1A3C7

Tityus quisqueyanus: Teruel, 2005: 175 (misidentification).

TYPE LOCALITY AND HOLOTYPE DEPOSITORY. Dominican Republic, La Vega Province, Constanza Municipality, Cordillera Central, Valle Nuevo , approx. 2 km southeast of La Nevera , 18°41'33.9"N 70°35'36.1"W, 2,239 m a. s. l., FKCP.

TYPE MATERIAL. Dominican Republic, La Vega Province, Constanza Municipality, Cordillera Central, Valle Nuevo , approx. 2 km southeast of La Nevera , 18° 41'33.9"N 70°35'36.1"W, 2,239 m a. s. l., 5. III.2014, leg. F. Kovařík, R. Teruel et P. Kindl, 1♂ holotype ( Figs. 28–42, 48, FKCP) ; Valle Nuevo , 2,220 m a. s. l., 8.XI.2004, leg. A. Marmolejo et G. E. de los Santos, 1♂ paratype ( RTOC: Sco-0276).

ETYMOLOGY. We are pleased to name this species after our good friend Pavel Kindl (Prague, Czech Republic), who accompanied and enthusiastically assisted us during all the field work of our 2014 expedition to the Dominican Republic.

DIAGNOSIS (males only, female unknown). Adult size moderately large (40–45 mm) for the " quisqueyanus " group. Coloration basically pale yellowish brown, moderately spotted with light to medium brown all over the body and appendages; tergites without clearly defined longitudinal dark bands; pedipalp hand essentially immaculate, fingers light brown with yellowish tips, metasomal segment V and telson only slightly more reddish. Pedipalps chelae with hand very robust and weakly carinate; fixed and movable fingers with 10 and 11 principal rows of denticles, respectively, basal lobe/notch combination moderate. Sternite V with the smooth patch very large, much wider than long; III–VI without carinae and with spiracles elongate oval. Metasoma long, slender, and slightly swollen distally, with 10-8-8-8-5 complete to essentially complete, weakly serrate to granulose carinae; segments II–IV dorsolateral carinae without enlarged terminal denticles; all intercarinal spaces coriaceous. Telson elongate oval, vesicle essentially smooth, with vestigial subaculear tubercle, and much longer than aculeus. Pectines with 9–11 teeth, basal middle lamella round and moderately enlarged.

DESCRIPTION (adult male holotype). Coloration ( Figs. 28–29) base pale yellowish brown, moderately spotted with pale to medium brown all over the body and appendages except on the ventral region of prosoma, which is immaculate. Chelicerae pale yellow, manus reticulate with dark brown all over except basally, but with pattern becoming denser and darker distally, fingers irregularly infuscate. Pedipalp femur and patella densely spotted with light brown on all surfaces except ventral, which it is essentially immaculate; chela with hand essentially immaculate (only a few very faint traces of pale brown spots are traceable externally), fingers irregularly infuscate with light brown, somewhat denser and darker on basal half. Carapace symmetrically marbled with medium brown (most spots are interconnected), with the interocular triangle more densely spotted; eyes and ocular tubercles black. Tergites densely spotted with medium brown, but without clearly defined pattern of longitudinal bands; I–VI with lateral margins pale immaculate and posterior margin with nine pale, round to oval spots (one over the median longitudinal carina and four on each side). Appendicular coxae, sternum, and genital opercula yellowish brown, immaculate. Pectines immaculate whitish, with basal portion and basal plate somewhat darker due to heavier sclerotization. Sternites very sparsely spotted with medium brown, V with the smooth patch conspicuously lighter, immaculate whitish to translucent. Legs sparsely spotted with medium to light brown on all surfaces except ventral, which it is essentially immaculate. Metasomal segments IV–I and telson with base color slightly darker, orange; dorsal surface very sparsely spotted with medium to light brown, lateral surfaces moderately spotted medium to light brown (denser on distal third of I–III and all over IV–V), ventral surface with the same pattern as preceding, but also with a thin dark stripe all along midline (more sharply defined on II–III); telson immaculate orange, aculeus light yellow basally and reddish brown distally.

CHELICERAE ( Fig. 31). With dentition typical for the genus; teeth short and wide but sharp. Tegument polished and smooth except on extreme dorsodistal portion of manus, which possesses a few granules aligned transversally. Setation very scarce on dorsal surface (only with five pale macrosetae around manus/finger juncture), but very dense ventrally.

CARAPACE ( Fig. 31). Trapezoidal and slightly wider than long; anterior margin widely bilobed, with some pairs of short setae. Carination essentially absent: the on-ly definable carinae are the superciliary (strongly granulose to subgranulose), and the irregularly fused central medians and posterior medians (moderately granulose). Furrows: anterior median, median ocular, central median, posterior median and posterior marginal fused, wide and moderately to very deep, posterior laterals long, narrow and shallow, other furrows indistinct. Tegument coriaceous, densely covered by glossy granules of medium to small size, especially on each side of the median furrows. Median eyes large and separate by about one ocular diameter, lateral eyes much smaller but all same-sized.

MESOSOMA ( Figs. 30–31). Tergites with the same sculpture as on carapace; I–VI with only one longitudinal carina, which is moderately strong, granulose, and not projected beyond posterior margin; VII with five carinae (median, submedians and laterals) which are strong and granulose to subserrate. Sternum standard for the genus: type 1, moderately large, longer than wide, and triangular in shape. Pectines somewhat short (not reaching leg IV trochanter), rectangular and moderately setose; tooth count 11/11; basal plate heavily sclerotized, much wider than long, and with a deep median furrow; anterior and posterior margins straight. Sternites III–VI smooth to coriaceous, glossy and sparsely setose, spiracles elongate oval but not slit-like; V with smooth patch very large, arrowhead-shaped, much wider than long and bulky, translucent whitish and conspicuously paler than the rest of the plate; VII very finely and densely granulose, with two pairs of long, moderately subserrate to subcrenulate carinae.

METASOMA AND TELSON ( Figs. 40–42). Metasoma long, slender and slightly swollen distally; I with ten complete carinae, II–IV with eight, and V with five: dorsolaterals (I–IV), lateral supramedians (I–V), lateral inframedians (I only), and ventrolaterals (I–V) vestigial, weakly serrate to granulose and without any enlarged terminal denticles; ventrosubmedians vestigial and weakly serrate to granulose, well defined on I–III and basal third of V, but irregular on IV. Intercarinal tegument coriaceous and with a few minute granules scattered on all surfaces; dorsal furrow moderately shallow and narrow on all segments, deeper on IV–V; setation sparse, with 3–5 pairs of short, dark ventrolateral macrosetae. Telson sparsely setose; vesicle elongate oval (1.95 times longer than wide, 1.03 times wider than deep), tegument coriaceous and essentially smooth, only with subtle traces of granules and a coarse but very poorly defined ventromedian carinae; subaculear tubercle insinuated by a coarse granule; aculeus very short but sharp, much shorter than vesicle and evenly curved.

LEGS ( Figs. 38–39). Legs very long and slender, sparsely setose. All carinae smooth to subcrenulate; intercarinal tegument coriaceous to minutely granulose; tibial spurs absent, prolateral and retrolateral pedal spurs well developed in all legs; ventral surface of all tarsomere II obtusely edged and with many setae irregularly arranged into two ventrosubmedian rows, without median row of spinules; claws long and strongly curved.

PEDIPALPS ( Figs. 32–37). Pedipalps moderately long, very sparsely setose and orthobothriotaxic A-α. Femur moderately slender and straight; all carinae moderately granulose; intercarinal tegument coriaceous, with many small granules scattered. Patella moderately long, slen- der and slightly curved inwards; all carinae moderately granulose; intercarinal tegument coriaceous, with many small granules scattered. Chela very robust, with hand markedly wider than patella, broadly oval (1.77 times longer than wide) and with all carinae obsolete to weak, granulose to costate, intercarinal tegument coriaceous, with traces of minute granules internally; fingers short and thick (movable finger essentially as long as underhand, just 1.03 times longer), evenly curved and with basal lobe/notch combination moderate, fixed fingers with 10/10 principal rows of granules, movable fingers with 11/11 plus an apical subrow formed by four denticles and a large internal accessory denticle (large terminal denticle not included).

VARIATION. The single paratype available is one sizeclass smaller than the holotype and thus, it exhibits a minor expression of most secondary sexually dimorphic characters such as morphometric ratios of pedipalps and metasoma ( Tabs. 2–3), and a slightly lower pectinal tooth count of 10/9. This same size-related variation has already been demonstrated to be a rule amongst members of this genus ( Lourenço, 1983; Teruel, 2000, 2011a –b; Armas et al., 2002; Montoya & Armas, 2002; Teruel & Armas, 2006; Kovařík, 2007; Rojas- Runjaic & Armas, 2007; Teruel & García, 2008a–b; Teruel & Sánchez, 2009, 2010; Teruel & Kovařík, 2011).

This smaller male also shows a somewhat darker and more contrasting coloration, which is due to the fact that it is a much older than the holotype (as evidenced by the wear out of the leg ungues, cheliceral teeth, and pedipalp finger denticles). Apart from this, both specimens are identical in all other important characters such as setation, carination and intercarinal sculpture of the body and appendages, and number of principal rows of denticles on pedipalp fingers.

AFFINITIES. T. kindli sp. n. differs from almost all other members of the " quisqueyanus " group in the following combination of characters: moderately large to large size (40–45 mm), very long and slender metasoma combined with very large pedipalp chelae, pale coloration (especially the posterior metasomal segments and telson only very faintly darkened), weak development of most carinae of pedipalps and metasoma, exaggerate development of smooth patch of sternite V, and low counts of pectinal teeth. All other members of this group have a conspicuously less attenuate metasoma but more slender pedipalp chelae, metasomal segments IV–V and telson markedly darker (usually black), and smooth patch of sternite V moderate to small; further, most of them are small to medium-sized (except Tityus neibae Armas, 1999 and T. quisqueyanus Armas, 1982 ), have markedly stronger pedipalpal and metasomal carinae (except T. altithronus Armas, 1999 ), and exhibit higher count of pectinal teeth (except T. elii Armas et Marcano, 1992 ).

This same combination of characters is shared only by T. abudi Armas, 1999 , which indeed is the closest relative of T. kindli sp. n. But it can be reliably separated by: 1) metasoma more slender, with all segments narrower and lower ( Tab. 3); 2) pedipalp chelae larger, with movable finger shorter than hand (this proportion is reversed in T. kindli sp. n., see Tab. 3); 3) sternite VI with a smooth patch (absent in T. kindli sp. n., see Fig. 30); 4) metasomal segments IV–V and telson with tegument sparsely granulose (smooth in T. kindli sp. n., see Figs. 40–42); 5) pectinal basal plate larger. Further, their geographical distribution as currently known is allopatric, with each species restricted to its own section of the Cordillera Central mountain range ( Fig. 50): T. abudi in the northern slopes of the western section and T. kindli sp. n. on the southern slopes of the eastern section, separated by the Constanza Valley.

As this new species is syntopic with T. quisqueyanus , we include here color photos, precise measurements and diagnostic morphometric ratios here for an easy distinction ( Figs. 27, 43–45, 49; Tab. 2). To warrant a non-biased comparison between these two species, we selected for the figures and tables freshly collected males belonging to the same size-class and from the same two localities where both are known to occur together. The differences in coloration, slenderness of pedipalps and metasoma, and carination of the same structures are in fact very obvious to unaided eye, but also T. quisqueyanus possesses consistently higher pectinal tooth counts: 10–13 (mode 12) in nine males examined by us.

DISTRIBUTION ( Fig. 50). This scorpion is known only from the highest part of the eastern section of the

Cordillera Central mountain range, in central Dominican Republic. It has been collected in two nearby localities, separated by about 15 km map distance.

ECOLOGICAL NOTES. In the two localities known, T. kindli sp. n. lives in the same habitat: high montane pine forest on volcanic soil, at 2,220 –2,239 m altitude ( Figs. 46–47). According to the information kindly supplied by the collectors, the male obtained in 2004 was found un- der a rock in the remains of an abandoned bonfire; the one captured by us in 2014 was detected under the loose bark of a fallen pine log, in a rocky landslide along the roadside ( Fig. 47).

This is undoubtedly a very rare species, which is collected only sporadically: a single specimen has been obtained in each locality, whereas during the last four decades a pooled total of about 100 individuals of the syntopic and much more common T. quisqueyanus has been taken (this number includes our own field results and revision of several museum collections). A third syntopic scorpion that occur at the same two localities is Centruroides nitidus (Thorell, 1876) .

It is interesting to note here that, in both localities, none of these three species shows a marked preference for a given substratum and can be found as commonly on the vegetation as on the ground.

REMARKS. Teruel (2005: 175) identified tentatively as T. quisqueyanus the same specimen herein designated as paratype of T. kindli sp. n., but highlighted that it showed some obvious differences (e. g., a remarkably weaker development of pedipalp chela carinae) and stated that additional samples were necessary to define whether it represented a case of variation or a separate taxon. Our finding of the second adult male that matches perfectly that specimen, as well as abundant supplementary material of T. quisqueyanus , allowed us to clarify the status of this population and its differential diagnosis against its remaining Hispaniolan congeners.

COMPARATIVE MATERIAL EXAMINED.