Scorpio moulouya, Ythier & François, 2023

Ythier, Eric & François, Alexandre, 2023, The scorpion fauna of the Oriental region in Morocco (Scorpiones: Buthidae, Scorpionidae) with description of three new species of the genus Scorpio Linnaeus, 1758., Faunitaxys 11 (3), pp. 1-15 : 12-14

Scorpio moulouya sp. n.

( Fig. 11-12 , 16, 20 , 23 , 33)

ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/ 1EE98653-BDC8-469D-BC78-B8A488E19720

Holotype, ♂, Morocco, Missour , ECWP , in front of the Ecology laboratory , 33.00722 lat. -4.09760 lon., ID 5313, 13/III/2015 (A. François, H. Hdidou), deposited in the MNHN.

Paratypes (3 ex.).

- 1 ♂, Morocco, Missour , 33.00768 lat. -4.08838 lon., ID 10558, 11/III/2015 (H. Hdidou), deposited in the ECWP ;

- 1 ♂, Morocco, Lamjalil , 33.89382 lat. -3.95681 lon., ID 10561, 11/III/2015 (H. Hdidou), deposited in the MNHN ;

- 1 ♂, Morocco, Tenzil , 33.59808 lat. -3.16118 lon., ID 15016, 31/XII/2013 (T. Dieuleveut), deposited in the ECWP .

Other material examined (9 ex.).

- 1 ♂, Morocco, Missour , ECWP , 33.01021 lat. -4.09602 lon., ID 12080, 15/VIII/2012 (A. François, B. Michel), ECWP ;

- 1 ♂, Morocco, Missour , ECWP , 33.00722 lat. -4.0976 lon., ID 12198, 15/X/2012 (C. Robin), ECWP ;

- 1 ♂, Morocco, Missour , ECWP , 33.00722 lat. -4.0976 lon., ID 21822, 05/VI/2014 (S. Boullenger), ECWP ;

- 1 ♂, Morocco, Missour , ECWP, villa F2-6 , 33.01191 lat. -4.09693lon., ID 24231, 28/VIII/2021 (A.François), ECWP ;

- 1♂, Morocco, Missour , Al Baten, 33.16383 lat. -4.01174 lon., ID 573, 10/V/2002 (J. Yvernault), ECWP ;

- 1 ♂, Morocco, Missour , Al Baten, 33.22951 lat. -4.07098 lon., ID 2870, 17/V/2002 (Y. Hingrat, J. Yvernault), ECWP ;

- 1 ♂, Morocco, Lamjalil , Ouizghet , ID 576, 17/VI/2000 (A. François, G. Chavanon), ECWP ;

- 1 ♂, Morocco, Lamjalil , Ouizghet, 33.8872 lat. -3.9641 lon., ID 4634, 24/VIII/2009 (H. Hdidou), ECWP ;

- 1 ♂, Morocco, Tenzil, ID 575, 17/VI/2000 (Y. Hingrat), ECWP .

Comparative material examined (3 ex.).

Scorpio fuliginosus (Pallary, 1928) : Morocco, Djebel Toubkal , 1 ♂, 2 ♀, EY0052, 2010 (E. Ythier), EYPC .

Etymology. – The specific name is placed in apposition to the generic name and refers to the Moulouya River Basin, where the new species mainly occurs.

Diagnosis. – Scorpion of moderate to large size for the genus, with a total length of 53-67 mm for the males holotype and paratypes. Coloration basically brownish to dark brown, without delimited darker pigmentation on carapace and tergites; chela manus lighter than body. Genital operculum suboval, formed by two plates having a semi-triangular shape; convex anteriorly and posteriorly. Pectinal plate weakly divided in two parts, the posterior part slightly wider than the anterior part; pectines longer than length of third coxa and largely exceeding the distal end of fourth coxa in male; pectinal count 9-11 teeth in male.Leg IV tarsus with 9 internal and 7 external spines. Hemispermatophore with distal lamina almost straight, terminus not enlarged and ending with a 45° angle; laminar hook apart from lamina, small and almost straight.

Description (based on male holotype; measurements after the description).

Coloration. – Prosoma: carapace brownish with diffuse dark brown variegated spots on the entire surface; median and lateral ocular tubercles marked with dark pigments. Mesosoma : tergites brownish to dark brown; sternites reddish yellow. Coxapophysis and sternum reddish yellow; genital operculum and pectines yellowish. Metasoma: yellowish brown with some blackishpigmentation on ventralface of all segments and onlateraland dorsal faces of segment V. Telson yellowish brown with some brownish pigmentation on ventral and lateral surfaces; aculeus yellowish at its base and black at its extremity. Chelicerae yellow with greyish variegated spots close to the fingers;fingers yellowish with reddish teeth. Pedipalps: femur and patella yellowish brown; chela yellowish brown with carinae and fingers reddish black; dentate margins of fingers black.Metasoma: yellowish brown.

Morphology. – Carapace acarinate, without any granulations; anterior margin with a moderately pronounced concavity; posterior furrows moderately pronounced; median ocular tubercle in the centre of the carapace; three pairs of lateral eyes; the first two of equal size, the third slightly reduced. Mesosoma : tergites acarinate and almost smooth, with only some sparse minute granulation on posterior and lateral sides. Sternum pentagonal, slightly wider than high. Venter: genital operculum suboval, formed by two plates having a semi-triangular shape; convex anteriorly and posteriorly. Pectinal plate weakly divided in two parts, the posterior part slightly wider than the anterior part. Pectines longer than length of third coxa and largely exceeding the distal end of fourth coxa; pectinal tooth count 10-11 in male; fulcra strongly developed. Sternites smooth and shiny;VII with four moderately marked carinae;spiracles linear andconspicuous. Metasoma with moderatelyto strongly marked carinae on segments I to IV; granulation becomes spiniform on segmentV; ventral and latero-ventral carinae intensely spinoid on V; all intercarinal surfaces weakly granular.Telsonglobular and strongly granular on ventral side with four ventral carinae formed by strong spinoid granules; aculeus shorter than vesicle and moderately curved. Cheliceral dentition characteristic of the Scorpionidae (Vachon, 1963) ; movable finger with one subdistal tooth and conspicuous basal teeth. Pedipalps: femur with four incomplete carinae, intercarinal surfaces smooth to weakly granulated; patella with dorsal carina almost complete, intercarinal surfaces smooth to weakly granulated; chela with weakly marked ventral carinae;dorsal carinae moderately marked; dorso-external aspect of the manus coarsely granular. Dentate margin on fixed and movable fingers with a series of granules divided by 5 strong accessory granules. Trichobothriotaxy of type C; orthobothriotaxic (Vachon, 1974); femur with 3 trichobothria, patella with 19 and chela with 26. Legs: tarsi of legs I to IV with 7/5, 8/6, 9/7, 9/7 internal and external spines arranged in series. Hemispermatophore: distal lamina almost straight, terminus not enlarged and ending with a 45° angle; laminar hook apart from lamina, small and almost straight.

Morphometric values (mm) (male holotype).

– Total length (including telson): 66.71.

– Carapace length, 9.50; anterior width, 6.50; posterior width, 9.75.

– Mesosoma : 25.13.

– Metasomal segments

I: length, 3.69; width, 5.0;

II: length, 4.13; width, 4.63;

III: length, 4.38; width, 4.25;

IV: length, 5.50; width, 3.88;

V: length, 7.50; width, 3.13; depth, 3.13.

– Telson

length, 6.88; vesicle width, 3.25; depth, 2.88.

– Pedipalp

femur length, 6.25, width, 3.13;

patella length, 6.25, width, 3.13;

chela length, 13.75, width, 9.63, depth, 5.0;

movable finger length, 7.88.

Comparisons. – By the general shape of its pectinal plate and male genital operculum plate, Scorpio moulouya sp. n. seems to be more closely related to another new species described in this work, Scorpio touili sp. n., mainly occurring in the high plateaus of the Oriental region, but with some potential zones of sympatry between both species ( Fig. 4 ).

S. moulouya sp. n. can however be easily distinguished from S. touili sp. n. notably by the following main features:

(i) an overall darker coloration, brownish to dark brown (yellowish to yellowish brown in S. touili sp. n.);

(ii) chela manus lighter than body (similar colour as body in S. touili sp. n.);

(iii) hemispermatophore with distal lamina almost straight (more curved in S. touili sp. n.), lamina terminus not enlarged and ending with a 45° angle (enlarged and almost flat in S. touili sp. n.) and laminar hook smaller and further apart from lamina (longer and closer to lamina in S. touili sp. n., Fig. 32-33);

S. moulouya sp. n. can also be easily distinguished from another dark species to which it has previously been referred to (Touloun et al., 2014), Scorpio fuliginosus (Pallary, 1928) described from High Atlas flanks and notably the region of Toubkal, notably by the following main features:

(i) an overall lighter coloration, brownish to dark brown (similar coloration but always darker in S. fuliginosus );

(ii) chela manus lighter than body (same colour or only slightly lighter than body in S. fuliginosus ) and vesicle lighter than metasoma (same colour as metasoma in S. fuliginosus );

(iii) pectinal plate with posterior part slightly wider than anterior part (same width in S. fuliginosus ; Fig. 23, 27 );

(iv) male pectine length longer than length of third coxa (as long as third coxa in S. fuliginosus ) and largely exceeding the distal end of the fourth coxa (reaching the distal end of the fourth coxa in S. fuliginosus );

(v) male genital operculum plate more convex anteriorly (more flattened anteriorly in S. fuliginosus ; Fig. 23, 27 );

(vi) hemispermatophore with distal lamina terminus ending with a 45° angle in the opposite way of S. fuliginosus and with laminar hook smaller and further apart from lamina (longer and closer to lamina in S. fuliginosus, Fig. 33, 35);

(vii) moreover, both species present a totally allopatric distribution.

Finally, S. moulouya sp. n. can be easily distinguished from Scorpio atlasensis Khammassi, Harris & Sadine, 2023 , a species recently described from the Tellian Atlas of north-western Algeria (Khammassi et al., 2023) and reported in Morocco from one location in the middle Moulouya river basin, by the following main features:

(i) carapace and mesosoma brownish to dark brown without delimited darker pigmentation (yellowish to yellowish brown with a dark triangular zone on carapace and a median dark line on mesosoma in S. atlasensis );

(ii) chela manus lighter than body (similar colour as body in S. atlasensis );

(iii) leg IV tarsus with 9 internal and 7 external spines (n=4) (8 internal and 7 external spines in S. atlasensis . NB. internal and external spine numbers seem to be inversed in Khammassi et al., 2023).

Distribution and remarks. – Scorpio moulouya sp. n. seems to be mainly distributed in the middle Moulouya river basin, with some incursions on the westernmost part of the high plateaus of the Oriental region ( Fig. 4 ).

Khammassi et al. (2023) recently described a new Scorpio species, S. atlasensis , from one location in the Tellian Atlas of north-western Algeria on the basis of two female specimens (one adult and one pre-adult) and reported the same species to also occur in the middle Moulouya river basin (50 km south of Guercif; one specimen) based on molecular comparison of partial sequences of the mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I gene. Considering the type location of S. atlasensis and the distribution of S. moulouya sp. n. ( Fig. 4 ) as well as the morphological differences between both species (Comparisons section), we believe that S. atlasensis is restricted to the Tellian Atlas of Algeria and the mentioned location in Morocco might rather refer to S. moulouya sp. n.

Touloun et al. (2014) referred to S. fuliginosus for specimen(s) collected in the middle Moulouya river basin (80 km south of Guercif). Considering the type location (Toubkal) and biotope of S. fuliginosus , this (these) might rather be referred to S. moulouya sp. n.

Figures

Fig. 11-12. Scorpio moulouya sp. n., ♂ holotype, habitus. 11. Dorsal aspect. 12. Ventral aspect.

Fig. 13 -20. Metasomal segment V, telson and chela of the new Scorpio species (Scale bar = 2 mm). 13-16. Metasomal segment V and telson, lateral aspect. 13. Scorpio touili sp. n., ♂ holotype. 14. Scorpio touili sp. n., ♀ paratype. 15. Scorpio iznassen sp. n., ♂ holotype. 16. Scorpio moulouya sp. n., ♂ holotype. 17 -20. Chela, dorso-external aspect, showing the trichobotrial pattern. 17. Scorpio touili sp. n., ♂ holotype. 18. Scorpio touili sp. n., ♀ paratype. 19. Scorpio iznassen sp. n., ♂ holotype. 20. Scorpio moulouya sp. n., ♂ holotype.

Fig. 21-31. Genital opercula and pectinal plates of the Scorpio species discussed in this work. 21-28. Males. 21. Scorpio touili sp. n., holotype. 22. Scorpio iznassen sp. n., holotype. 23. Scorpio moulouya sp. n., holotype. 24. Scorpio maurus. 25. Scorpio punicus. 26. Scorpio birulai. 27. Scorpio fuliginosus. 28. Scorpio hesperus. 29-31. Females. 29. Scorpio touili sp. n., paratype. 30. Scorpio punicus. 31. Scorpio atlasensis, holotype. (24-28 and 30 modified after Vachon, 1952 and Lourenço, 2009; 31 modified after Khammassi et al., 2023).

Fig. 1-4. Topographic map of the Oriental region in Morocco and surroundings areas showing the collection sites of Androctonus, Buthus, Hottentotta and Scorpio species (symbols with white cross showing the type localities). 1. Androctonus. 2. Buthus. 3. Hottentotta. 4. Scorpio.