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Saturday, March 4th, 2023
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| 2:12a | [Arachnida • 2023] Bothriurus mistral • the Highest-dwelling Bothriurus (Scorpiones: Bothriuridae) from the western Andes
Abstract We describe Bothriurus mistral n. sp. (Scorpiones, Bothriuridae) from the Chilean north-central Andes of the Coquimbo Region. This is the highest elevational discovery for Bothriurus in the western slopes of the Andes. This species was collected in the Estero Derecho Private Protected Area and Natural Sanctuary as part of the First National Biodiversity Inventory of Chile of the Integrated System for Monitoring and Evaluation of Native Forest Ecosystems (SIMEF). Bothriurus mistral n. sp. is closely related to Bothriurus coriaceus Pocock, 1893, from the lowlands of central Chile. This integrative research includes a combination of traditional morphometrics and geometric morphometric analyses to support the taxonomic delimitation of the species.
Bothriurus mistral n. sp. Ojanguren-Affilastro, Mattoni, Alfaro & Pizarro-Araya Diagnosis and comparisons: Bothriurus mistral n. sp. is most closely related to B. coriaceus, which occurs in neighboring areas but at much lower altitudes. Both species can be easily told apart by their pigment pattern and morphology. Bothriurus mistral n. sp. is more pigmented than B. coriaceus; the pigment pattern of tergites I–VI is usually restricted to the anterior third of the segment in B. coriaceus (Fig 8C), whereas in B. mistral n. sp. it occupies more than the anterior half of each segment (Fig 8D). Additionally, B. coriaceus only has a median wide stripe in the ventral surface of metasomal segments I–IV (Fig 8A), whereas B. mistral n. sp. has three ventral stripes, two VL and a VM (Fig 8B). Bothriurus coriaceus has more developed ventral carinae in metasomal segment I (Fig 6G–6J). Metasomal segment V is more elongated in B. mistral n. sp. males (Fig 6E), and its length/width ratio ranges from 1.80 to 2.01 (N = 10; mean = 1.86), whereas in B. coriaceus males (Fig 6F) it ranges from 1.61 to 1.76 (N = 10; mean = 1.67). The base of the aculeus in B. mistral n. sp. males is slightly thicker and higher than in B. coriaceus males (Fig 6B and 6D), but this character is highly variable. There are also some conspicuous differences in the hemispermatophores of both species; in B. mistral n. sp. the distal lamina is more elongated and more recurved apically than in B. coriaceus (Fig 7A and 7B), being the distal lamina proportionally shorter and wider in B. coriaceus than in B. mistral n. sp. considering the total length of the hemispermatophore. Hemispermatophore total length/distal lamina length ratio ranges from 1.88 to 1.98 (N = 5; Mean = 1.93) in B. mistral n. sp., whereas in B. coriaceus it ranges from 2.04 to 2.08 (N = 5; Mean = 2.06). Hemispermatophore total length/distal lamina width ratio ranges from 7.71 to 8.23 (N = 5; Mean = 8.03) in B. mistral n. sp., whereas in in B. coriaceus it ranges from 6.31 to 7.16 (N = 5; Mean = 6.81). Etymology: The specific name mistral is a noun in apposition referring to Gabriela Mistral, pseudonym of the Chilean poetess Lucila María Godoy Alcayaga (1889–1957), who was born in Vicuña and raised in Monte Grande, both in the Elqui valley (Coquimbo Region), an area adjacent to the type locality of this species. For her poetry work, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945 and was the first Ibero-American woman and the second Latin American person to receive the Nobel Prize. Gabriela Mistral worked as a teacher at numerous schools of the Elqui valley and became a leading thinker as to the role of public education. She was also involved in the reformation of the Mexican education system, and since the 1920s, led an itinerant life due to her work as a consul and representative for international organizations in the Americas and Europe. Distribution: Bothriurus mistral n. sp. is only known from its type locality, the Estero Derecho Private Protected Area and Natural Sanctuary (30°23ʹ3.86ʺS, 70°24ʹ44.97ʺW, 3,034 masl), located in the Paihuano mountain range, an area with a surface of 31,680 ha, placed at high altitudes of the north central Chilean Andes (Coquimbo Region, Chile) (Fig 1). Ecology: The area where Bothriurus mistral n. sp. was collected occupies the sub-Andean floor, which is characterized by the presence of medium-height shrub vegetation and scrublands, with the dominant species Stipa chrysophylla E. Desvaux, 1854, Viviana marifolia Cavanilles, 1804, Cristaria andicola Gay, 1846, Adesmia hystrix Philippi, 1860 (Fabaceae), and Ephedra americana Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd 1806; and the lowermost Andean floor, characterized by a low tropical-Mediterranean shrubland of Adesmia subterranea Clos, Gay, C., 1838, and Adesmia echinus C. Presl, 1791 (Fabaceae) [15, 31]. Bothriurus mistral n. sp. has been found in sympatry with Brachistosternus gayi Ojanguren-Affilastro, Pizarro-Araya & Ochoa, 2018, and with an undetermined, possibly new, species of Brachistosternus. Andrés A. Ojanguren-Affilastro, Hugo A. Benítez, Hernán A. Iuri, Camilo I. Mattoni, Fermín M. Alfaro and Jaime Pizarro-Araya. 2023. Description of Bothriurus mistral n. sp., the Highest-dwelling Bothriurus from the western Andes (Scorpiones, Bothriuridae), using Multiple Morphometric Approaches. PLoS ONE. 18(2): e0281336. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281336  | ||||||
| 3:00a | [Ichthyology • 2023] Eulophias spinosior • A New Deep-Water Eulophiid Fish (Perciformes: Zoarcoidei: Eulophiidae) from Japan
Abstract The genus Eulophias, which is an enigmatic group of the suborder Zoarcoidei, previously comprised two rare species: Eulophias tanneri Smith, 1902 (type species and a senior synonym of Eulophias owashii Okada and Suzuki, 1954) and Eulophias koreanus Kwun and Kim, 2012. Here we describe a new species, Eulophias spinosior, based on 71 specimens (94.9–182.3 mm in standard length, SL) collected from the upper slope of the northwestern Pacific off southern Japan at depths of 257–555 m. It readily differs from its two congeners in having 133–143 dorsal-fin spines, 109–116 anal-fin soft rays, 5–6 pectoral-fin rays, and 146–156 total vertebrae, and in lacking a dark band posterior to the eye and a series of dark blotches midlaterally on the trunk and tail. Regarding bathymetric distribution, the new species occurs much deeper than E. koreanus and E. tanneri. Eulophias spinosior, new species, is sexually dimorphic, with males having large, stout, modified canines at the tips of the premaxillary and dentary (vs. only slightly enlarged in females). Dentition of males also differs from that of females in that most teeth are uniserially arranged in each jaw (vs. distinct two rows anteriorly).
Eulophias spinosior, new species New standard Japanese name: Toge-itoginpo Diagnosis.—Eulophias spinosior is readily distinguished form its two congeners by having 133–143 dorsal-fin spines (vs. 124–128 and 116–125 in E. koreanus and E. tanneri, respectively), 109–116 anal-fin soft rays (vs. 102–103 and 90–100, respectively), 146–156 total vertebrae (vs. 141–143 and 132–143, respectively), and 5–6 pectoral-fin rays (vs. 7 in both E. koreanus and E. tanneri). In addition, the new species is unique among the genus in lacking prominent dark markings on the sides of the head and body, whereas E. koreanus and E. tanneri have a dark band posterior to the eye and a series of dark blotches midlaterally on the trunk and tail. Etymology.— The specific epithet spinosior is derived from the comparative of the Latin adjective spinosus, meaning thorny, spiny, or prickly, in alluding to a greater number of dorsal-fin spines of the new species among Eulophias. Naohide Nakayama, Takeshi Yamakawa, Munehiro Takami and Hiromitsu Endo. 2023. Description of A New Deep-Water Eulophiid Fish (Perciformes: Zoarcoidei) from Japan. Ichthyology & Herpetology. 111(1); 87-97. DOI: 10.1643/i2021047 | ||||||
| 3:01a | [Entomology • 2023] Hea qiuae • A New Species of Hea Distant, 1906 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettinae) from China, with Annotated Catalogue for the Genus
Abstract A new species of cicada, Hea qiuae Wang, sp. n. (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettinae), is described and illustrated from Chongqing and Yunnan, Southwest China. An annotated catalogue and an updated key to the four species of Hea are presented. Keywords: Hemiptera, cicada, Taphurini, taxonomy, morphology, bibliography, key, Oriental Region
Hea qiuae Wang, sp. n. Cheng-Bin Wang. 2023. A New Species of Hea Distant, 1906 from China, with annotated catalogue for the genus (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettinae). Zootaxa. 5231(5); 575-583. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5231.5.6 | ||||||
| 4:13p | [Diplopoda • 2020] Eutrichodesmus cambodiensis • A New Micropolydesmoid Millipede of the Genus Eutrichodesmus Silvestri, 1910 (Polydesmida: Haplodesmidae) from Cambodia, with A Key to Species in mainland Southeast Asia
Abstract The micropolydesmoid millipede family Haplodesmidae is here recorded from Cambodia for the first time through the discovery of the first, new species of the genus Eutrichodesmus Silvestri, 1910: E. cambodiensis sp. nov. This new species is described from two limestone habitats in Kampot Province, based on abundant material. It is easily distinguished from all related congeners by the following combination of characters: body greyish-brown; limbus roundly lobulate; solenomere partially divided from acropodite by a digitiform lobe, but without hairpad. Brief remarks on the previously-proposed “pecularis-group” are provided and a second group, the “demangei-group”, is established and discussed on the basis of morphological evidence, updating the number of recognised species groups of Eutrichodesmus to two. Detailed morphological illustrations, photographs and a distribution map, as well as remarks on its habitat and mating behaviour of the new species are presented. Furthermore, the current distributions of all 55 presently-known species of Eutrichodesmus are provided and a key to all 23 species that occur in mainland Southeast Asia is given. Keywords: Karst, new species, Southeast Asia, taxonomy Taxonomy Order Polydesmida Pocock, 1887 Suborder Polydesmidea Pocock, 1887 Family Haplodesmidae Cook, 1895 Genus Eutrichodesmus Silvestri, 1910 Type species: Eutrichodesmus demangei Silvestri, 1910
Eutrichodesmus cambodiensis Srisonchai & Panha, sp. nov. Diagnosis: Body with incomplete volvation; metaterga with three transverse rows of regular and round tubercles, but no mid-dorsal projection (outgrowth) on metaterga; distofemoral process on gonopod telopodite very short, inconspicuous. Similar in all these characters to E. griseus Golovatch et al., 2009, but differs in having (1) live specimens and freshly preserved material pale greyish-brown or pale brown in colour; (2) the limbus crenulate, but not spinulate, crenulations being slightly longer than broad; (3) the acropodite curved and long, unciform, attenuated near tip; with a free solenomere starting from about midway; and (4) the solenomere digitiform, papillate, without hairpad. Etymology: The specific epithet reflects the name of the country “Cambodia” where all specimens were collected and to which the new species appears to be endemic; adjective.
Ruttapon Srisonchai, Natdanai Likhitrakarn, Chirasak Sutcharit, Ekgachai Jeratthitikul, Warut Siriwut, Phanara Thrach, Samol Chhuoy, Peng Bun Ngor and Somsak Panha. 2020. A New Micropolydesmoid Millipede of the Genus Eutrichodesmus Silvestri, 1910 from Cambodia, with A Key to Species in mainland Southeast Asia (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Haplodesmidae). ZooKeys. 996: 59-91. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.996.57411  |
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