Butheoloides grosseri Kovařík, 2016

Kovařík, František, 2016, Butheoloides grosseri sp n (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Uganda, Euscorpius 230, pp. 1-6 : 1-6

Butheoloides grosseri Kovařík , sp. n.

( Figures 1–24, Table 1) http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D1B64F

17-F7C4-46B4-BA26-09B056C9BDFA

TYPE LOCALITY AND HOLOTYPE REPOSITORY. Uganda, Kapchorwa District, 5 km NE Atari , 01.47633°N 034. 42011°E, 1086 m a.s.l., FKCP.

TYPE MATERIAL. Uganda, Kapchorwa District, 5 km NE Atari , 01.47633°N 034.42011°E, 1086 m a.s.l., 26.I.2016, 1♀ holotype preserved in 80% ethanol, leg. W. Grosser , FKCP (František Kovařík, private collection, Prague, Czech Republic) .

ETYMOLOGY. The selected epithet is a patronym honoring a Czech entomologist Walter Grosser, the collector of the holotype of the new species. He is also the author of Figure 24.

DIAGNOSIS (based on a single adult female). Adult size standard for genus (23.65 mm). Coloration almost black, only metasomal segments I-III, telson, and patella and femur of pedipalp orange to reddish brown; legs yellow with dark spot on patella; chelicerae yellow slightly reticulated in posterior part. Pedipalp movable fingers with 10 rows of granules with external and internal accessory granules and short apical row. Pectine teeth number 16. Ventral and lateral surfaces of metasomal segments sparsely punctated, lateral and dorsal surfaces also bumpy and granulated. Pedipalp chela smooth. Tarsomere I of all legs without bristlecombs.

DESCRIPTION. The female holotype is 23.65 mm long. The habitus is shown in Figs. 1–2. For position and distribution of trichobothria of pedipalps see Figs. 13–16 and 18–19. There is trichobothrium Esb located far from trichobothria Et and Est. The distance between trichobothria Esb and Est on the femur of pedipalp is twice longer than between Est and Et ( Fig. 13). The trichobothrium d2 is situated on the dorsal surface ( Fig. 19). Measurements of the carapace, telson, segments of the metasoma and segments of the pedipalps are given in Table 1.

Coloration ( Figs. 1–2). Almost black, only metasomal segments I–III, telson, and patella and femur of pedipalp are uniformly orange to reddish brown with a dark spot indicated on patella ventral ( Fig. 17); legs are yellow with a dark spot on patella; and chelicerae yellow slightly reticulated in anterior part. The manus of chela is brown to black, reticulated, fingers are yellowish.

Chelicerae ( Fig. 3). With dentition typical for the genus, teeth sharp. Tegument basally smooth and shiny, anteriorly densely granulated.

Carapace and mesosoma ( Figs. 1–4). The carapace is slightly trapezoidal (narrower anteriorly) and approximately as long as wide; anterior margin strongly convex, with some short microsetae. The carapace is covered by large granules. Carinae are absent. Tergites I–VI are rudenessly granulated with conspicuous coarsely granular medial carina. Tergite VII is granulated, pen- tacarinated, with the carinae only indicated. The pectinal tooth count is 16 in the female holotype. The pectine marginal tips extend to end of the third sternite. The pectines have three marginal lamellae and 8 middle lamellae. The lamellae and fulcra bear numerous light setae. All sternites are smooth. Sternum standard for the genus: type 1, relatively big, and widely pentagonal in shape. Posterior depression very large, deep, and circular.

Metasoma and telson ( Figs. 9, 21–23). All segments with obsolete ventrolateral carinae. Other carinae are absent. Ventral and lateral surfaces of metasomal segments sparsely punctated, lateral and dorsal also bumpy/ tuberculated and granulated. Dorsal surfaces with median furrow and coarsely granulated. The metasoma and telson are very sparsely setose, the telson is tuberculated, with a characteristic subaculear tubercle. The vesicle is bulbous, oval. The aculeus shorter than the vesicle, strongly curved.

Pedipalps ( Figs. 10–20). The pedipalps are very sparsely setose. Femur densely granulated by big granules, with four developed granulate carinae. Patella almost smooth without carinae; only internal surface rudenessly granulated by big granules. Chela elongate; manus approximately as wide as patella (ratio 1.052), with carinae absent, smooth; tegument smooth and glossy; fingers long (ratio of chela length/ movable finger length is 1.5), subtly curved and both fixed and movable fingers with 10 principal rows of granules which terminate in two external granules, and each row also has one internal granule. Movable fingers bear an apical row of four granules and two accessory terminal granules.

Legs ( Figs. 5–8). The tarsomeres bear two rows of macrosetae on the ventral surface and several macrosetae on the other surfaces; bristle combs absent. Femur bears only solitary macrosetae. Femur rudenessly gran- ulose, with carinae vestigial. Patella rather smooth, with carinae vestigial to absent. Tibial spurs present and long on the third and the fourth legs.

AFFINITIES. B. grosseri sp. n. could be differentiated from other species of the genus by the separate areas of distribution. It is the first species of the genus reported from Uganda. In the region, respectively in Sudan and Ethiopia, there live three other species B. hirsti Lourenço, 1996 , B. nuer Kovařík, 2015 and B. polisi Lourenço, 1996 .

B. hirsti was based on one uncolored specimen ( Lourenço, 1996: 89–93, figs. 2, 5, 8, 14–18), but Lourenço differentiates B. hirsti from other species of the genus Butheoloides according to the presence of carinae on carapace which are absent in all Butheoloides including B. polisi (see fig. 6 in Kovařík, 2015: 2) described by Lourenço in the same paper as B. hirsti .

B. nuer can be unequivocally separated by: 1) chelicerae slightly reticulated in posterior part in B. grosseri sp. n. ( Fig. 3) and in arterior part in B. nuer (fig. 3 in Kovařík, 2015: 2); 2) Pedipalp movable fingers with 10 principal rows of granules in B. grosseri sp. n. ( Fig. 11) and 11 principal rows of granules in B. nuer (fig. 15 in Kovařík, 2015: 3); 3) femur of all legs bears a dark spot in B. grosseri sp. n. ( Fig. 1) but legs yellow to orange without dark spots in B. nuer (fig. 1 in Kovařík, 2015: 2).

B. polisi can be unequivocally separated by: 1) coloration of mesosoma, carapace, and manus of chela much more dark in B. grosseri sp. n. than in B. polisi ( Figs. 1–3 versus figs. 5–6 in Kovařík, 2015: 2); 2) chelicerae slightly reticulated in posterior part in B. grosseri sp. n. ( Fig. 3) and yellow without reticulation in B. polisi (fig. 6 in Kovařík, 2015: 2).