A new Roncus species (Pseudoscorpiones: Neobisiidae) from Montseny Natural Park (Catalonia, Spain), with remarks on karyology

Abstract

Roncus montsenyensis sp. nov. is described from Montseny Natural Park (Catalonia, Spain). The new species is geographically and morphologically close to Roncus cadinensis Zaragoza, 2007, but can be separated from it by palpal morphometrics, the chelal microsetae pattern and karyology. The diploid number was found to be 2n=16 in R. montsenyensis, with only biarmed chromosomes. The diploid number was found to be 2n=38 in R. cadinensis, with a predominance of acrocentric chromosomes. Both species possess the XY sex chromosome system and the X and Y chromosomes are only weakly differentiated.

Karyotype diversity of pseudoscorpions of the genus Chthonius (Pseudoscorpiones, Chthoniidae) in the Alps

“…Troiano 1990). Substantial differences in karyotypes were used to distinguish Roncus montsenyensis Zaragoza and Šťáhlavský, 2008 (2n = 16) from Roncus cadinensis Zaragoza, 2007 (2n = 38), which are morphologically very similar (Zaragoza and Šťáhlavský 2008). Unfortunately, the use of cytogenetics in cryptic species detection in pseudoscorpions is complicated due to the limited amount of data available for comparison among different species.…”

“…Řezáč et al 2007, Lukhtanov et al 2015). In pseudoscorpions, the use of cytogenetic methods has enabled the detection of interspecific variability (Troiano 1990, Šťáhlavský et al 2006, 2013) and has led to the description of a new species (Zaragoza and Šťáhlavský 2008). …”

“…The chromosome number among pseudoscorpions ranges from 2n = 7–143 (Šťáhlavský 2016), but the variability of the chromosome number tends to be specific for each group. Despite the previous success of using karyological differences for species delimitation in pseudoscorpions (Zaragoza and Šťáhlavský 2008), this approach is limited due to the lack of cytogenetic data for comparison. Most of the available data belongs to both geographically and evolutionary distant lineages, where major differences in karyotype are not surprising.…”

A new epigean pseudoscorpion species (Pseudoscorpiones: Neobisiidae) from northeast of Iran, with an identification key to the species of the family Neobisiidae from Iran

“…Therefore, it is not possible to compare some diagnostic characteristics for all of the species, e.g., the presence/absence of the microsetae located proximal to the trichobothria eb and esb, or number of microsetae between the trichobothria eb and esb. These characters have been repeatedly used to separate the species by some authors such as Gardini (1983), Gardini and Rizzerio (1985), Hendericks and Zaragoza (2000), Zaragoza and Šťáhlavský (2008), and Zaragoza and Hendericks (2009). Nassirkhani and Mumladze (2019) provided a key to the Roncus species recorded for the Middle East and Caucasian regions based on the morphological and morphometric characteristics presented in the literature.…”

Morphological and cytogenetic characteristics of Neobisium (Blothrus) slovacum Gulička, 1977 (Pseudoscorpiones, Neobisiidae), the northernmost troglobitic species of the subgenus Blothrus in Europe

“…Harrison et al 2014) arachnid groups. However, cytogenetic techniques can also be useful for the identification of cryptic species within various orders of arachnids, such as harvestmen (Šťáhlavský et al 2018a), spiders (Řezáč et al 2018), scorpions (Šťáhlavský et al 2018b) and pseudoscorpions (Zaragoza and Šťáhlavský 2008). This is especially notable in some species of edaphic pseudoscorpions characterized by limited dispersal ability, for which distinct karyotypes may be found even in very close localities (Kotrbová et al 2016).…”