Zaragozachthonius (Pseudoscorpiones, Chthoniidae), a new genus with species in Italy and the Balkan peninsula
Author
Gardini, Giulio
text
Zootaxa
2020
2020-12-11
4894
4
535
548
journal article
9328
10.11646/zootaxa.4894.4.3
462ff1ea-f7e9-4324-a29c-2c025bf1405b
1175-5326
4316705
F3ED9338-25C3-41CC-A0E8-8CBB35E74536
Genus
Zaragozachthonius
n. gen.
Diagnosis.
Genus of the tribe
Chthoniini
with fusiform chelal hand constricted between trichobothria
ib-isb
and base of fixed finger, base of hand abruptly constricted paraxially; hand without distoventral hollow; distal end of hand and bases of chelal fingers with strongly sclerotized condylar complex, without medial protuberance between chelal condyles; proximal portion of hand with 4 setae in adults and tritonymphs (
ph
3
present); fixed chelal finger straight in lateral view; axis of fixed chelal finger apically forming a widely obtuse angle; chelal fingers with closeset teeth, distinctly reclined backwards; distal row of fixed chelal finger without a modified subdistal tooth (
mt
); tip of fixed chelal finger of both sexes with an antiaxial accessory tooth (
td
) and with a weak hollow on paraxial face, without subdistal protuberance (
sp
); base of movable chelal finger with an enlarged sclerotized condyle (
bc
), internal proximal apodeme (
ap
) well developed; trichobothrium
sb
closer to
b
than to
st
; coupled sensilla
pc
at level of
sb
or between
sb
and
b
; antiaxial lyrifissures (
ma
1
,
ma
2
) of movable chelal finger present. Coxae II and III with coxal spines arranged in rounded patches; bisetose intercoxal tubercle present between coxae III and IV; distal marginal seta of pedipalpal coxa (
dps
) distinctly longer than that (
dcs
) of coxa I; in addition to the stigmatal setae, sternite III in both sexes with 8–10 posterior setae, of which the lateral one (
ls
) on each side is reduced in size. Male genitalia without a median hiatus (
mh
) between setae of each row of guard–setae (
gs
).
Type
species.
Zaragozachthonius siculus
n. sp.
Etymology.
The genus is dedicated to Juan Antonio Zaragoza (Alicante,
Spain
) in recognition of his great contribution to the knowledge of Mediterranean pseudoscorpions. The generic name is the union of the surname Zaragoza and
Chthonius
, a typical suffix within the Chthonioidea. It is masculine in gender.
Distribution.
Italy
(Apennines,
Sicily
), Republic of North
Macedonia
.
Remarks.
With reference to the 17 characters useful to distinguish the nine
Chthonius
–related genera (with coxal spines on coxae II and III) listed by
Zaragoza (2017: 19
, table 1),
Zaragozachthonius
n. gen.
shares with
Chthonius
all characters but the presence of an antiaxial accessory tooth (
td
) on the tip of the fixed chelal finger (
td
absent in
Chthonius
), and the presence of a strongly sclerotized condylar complex on the base of movable chelal finger (condylar complex absent in
Chthonius
).
Zaragozachthonius
n. gen.
shares with
Globochthonius
all char-acters—also the position of coupled sensilla
pc
on movable chelal finger (
1
)—but the presence of chelal hand with fusiform facies (lagyniform facies in
Globochthonius
) and the absence of a dorso–paraxial hump at the base of chelal hand (hump present in
Globochthonius
). Concerning the chelal fingers dentition, only a few species of
Globochthonius
have teeth that are more or less close-set, distinctly reclined backwards, as
Globochthonius abnormis
(Dumitresco and Orghidan, 1964)
or
G. vandeli
(Beier, 1939) (
Ćurčić 1974
)
.
To facilitate identification,
Zaragozachthonius
n. gen.
is compared with the other
Chthonius
–related genera and differences are reported in the following key.
(1)
Gardini (2010: 57)
erroneously wrote that coupled sensilla
pc
(as
p
1
) in
Globochthonius globifer
(Simon, 1879)
are situated mainly between trichobothria
sb
and
st
, rarely near or just distad of
sb
: they were correctly given on page 56 (
Figs 7–8
) between
b -sb.