Olivierus voldemari, Fet & Kovařík & Gantenbein & Graham, 2021

Fet, Victor, Kovařík, František, Gantenbein, Benjamin & Graham, Matthew R., 2021, Three new species of Olivierus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Zootaxa 5006 (1), pp. 54-72 : 66-70

Olivierus voldemari sp. n.

Figs 86–91 , Table II

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1B864830-7C95-439B-A33D-2DA98947EC76

Mesobuthus caucasicus intermedius (nec Birula, 1897): Fet 1989: 110 ( Uzbekistan, in part).

Olivierus caucasicus parthorum (nec Pocock, 1889): Fet & Lowe 2000: 192 (in part).

Mesobuthus caucasicus (nec Nordmann, 1840): Gantenbein et al. 2003: 413 (in part; Karakalpak Steppe).

Mesobuthus gorelovi Fet et al. 2018: 24 ( Uzbekistan, in part); Teruel et al. 2018: 38; Graham et al. 2019: 801 (Eastern clade) ( Uzbekistan, in part: Besharyk; Yazyavan).

Type material: Holotype ♀ (figs 86–108, Table 2): Uzbekistan: Fargona [Fergana] Province. Yazyavan District, Karakalpak Steppe, ca 18 km W of Yazyavan, 40.6580°N, 71.5072°E, 403 m asl, 20.V.2002, leg. V. Fet ( FKCP). The holotype is a part of the paratype series of O. gorelovi .

Paratypes ( FKCP): Uzbekistan: Fargona Province. Besharyk District , Kairakkum Sands, 12.5 km WNW of Besharyk, 40.4735°N, 70.4503°E, 350–352 m a. s. l., 18.V.2002, 1♀ (without pedipalp), leg. V. Fet & A. Gromov (VF-3027); same label as holotype, 1♀ (part of the paratype series of O. gorelovi ) .

Distribution. Uzbekistan (Fargona Province) (fig. 109).

Etymology. The new species name is a patronym honoring Voldemar-Аlexander Kreuzberg (1916–2009), a prominent naturalist and entomologist who lived and worked in Uzbekistan.

Diagnosis. This cryptic species differs from O. gorelovi by the following molecular characters: COI differs by 24 nucleotide susbtitutions and an uncorrected p-distance of 0.0521 (see Table III; data for type locality haplotypes).

Description. (♀). Total length of adult female 64–66 mm, male unknown. Trichobothrium db on fixed finger of pedipalp situated between trichobothria est and esb, near to est. Fingers margins undulate in females. Pedipalp chela length/ width ratio 4.1–4.2 in females. Pectinal teeth number 22–23 in females. Chelicerae yellow, without reticulation. Pedipalps and metasoma very sparsely hirsute. Color uniformly yellow to yellowish brown, black pigmented metasomal segment V ventrally, and carapace anteriorly. Femur of pedipalp with 4–5 granulate carinae. Patella with 8 granulated or smooth carinae. Chela with smooth carinae indicated. Movable fingers of pedipalps with 12–13 cutting rows of denticles and 5 terminal denticles. Seventh sternite bears 4 well marked granulate carinae. First metasomal segment with 10 carinae; second to fourth with 8 carinae, other two carinae on metasomal segment II indicated by several denticles posteriorly; fifth with 5 carinae. All carinae granulated by consistent small blunt denticles. Length to width ratio of fourth metasomal segment 1.65 in females. Telotarsus III ventral setation represented by main row which contains ca 15 setae. Second parallel row contains not more than 9 setae. Pedal spur of legs hirsute.

Notes. (1) The new species is described from the isolated sands of the Ferghana Valley of Uzbekistan, at the border with Tajikistan. In the last 100 years, the Ferghana Valley sands have all but disappeared due to irrigation. On 18–20.V.2002, our field expedition (VF, A.V. Gromov) visited two isolated, remaining sand massifs of the modern Fargona Province, Uzbekistan (Kairakkum Sands in Besharyk District and “Karakalpak Steppe” in Yazyavan District). We found a dense population of O. voldemari sp. n.; at the same time, we did not find another endemic scorpion known only from this sand massif, Anomalobuthus zarudnyi (Birula, 1911) (formerly Psammobuthus zarudnyi ; see Teruel et al. 2018: 37).

(2) In the handwritten catalog of A.A. Birula’s collection (ZISP), some specimens of Olivierus from Aulie-Ata (Taraz, Kazakhstan) and Andizhan (Ferghana Valley, Uzbekistan) were labeled “ Buthus caucasicus ferganensis ”; this taxon was never described or published ( Fet 1989: 102).

THREE NEW SPECIES OF OLIVIERUS FROM KAZAKHSTAN & UZBEKISTAN Zootaxa 5006 (1) © 2021 Magnolia Press · 67 THREE NEW SPECIES OF OLIVIERUS FROM KAZAKHSTAN & UZBEKISTAN Zootaxa 5006 (1) © 2021 Magnolia Press · 69

TABLE III. Molecular diagnostic characters for three new cryptic species compared to a COI reference sequence from O. gorelovi (based on type locality haplotypes).

Figures

FIGURES 86–91. Olivierus voldemari sp. n., female holotype. Figures 86–87. Dorsal (86) and ventral (87) views. Figures 88–91. Telson lateral (88) and metasoma and telson, lateral (89), dorsal (90), and ventral (91) views. Scale bar: 10 mm (86–87, 89–91).