Two new species of cave-adapted pseudoscorpions (Pseudoscorpiones, Chthoniidae) from Yunnan, China

Abstract

Two new cave-adapted pseudoscorpion species belonging to the family Chthoniidae are described: Tyrannochthonius pandussp. nov. from Biyu Cave (Yunnan: Luxi) and Lagynochthonius laoxueyanensissp. nov. from Laoxueyan Cave (Yunnan: Yanshan). Both of them, collected from the dark zone of caves, are highly troglomorphic species.

Four new species of cave-adapted pseudoscorpions (Pseudoscorpiones, Pseudotyrannochthoniidae) from Guizhou, China

“…They are usually eyeless and have a hypopigmented body cuticle and elongated body appendages. To date, 54 cave-dwelling pseudoscorpion species from four families ( Atemnidae , Chernetidae , Chthoniidae , Neobisiidae ) have been described from China ( Schawaller 1995 ; Mahnert 2003 , 2009 ; Mahnert and Li 2016 ; Gao et al 2017 , 2018 , 2020 ; Li et al 2017 , 2019 ; Feng et al 2019 , 2020 ; Zhang et al 2020 ; Li and Wang 2021 ; Hou et al 2022a , b ; Li 2022 ; Xu et al 2022 ), including 12 species from Guizhou. No cavernicolous pseudotyrannochthoniid species have been reported from China yet.…”

Five new troglobitic species of Tyrannochthonius (Arachnida, Pseudoscorpiones, Chthoniidae) from the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan Provinces, China

“…Other than China, these cave species are distributed in Africa, Oceania, and North America. Among them, there are 31 species in the United States, five species in Australia, four species in Mexico, one species in Kenya, one species in New Caledonia, one species in Guatemala, one species in Peru, and one species in Jamaica ( Hou et al 2022 ; World Pseudoscorpiones Catalog 2022 ).…”

“…nov. (Daguoquan Cave) and T. yamuhensis sp. nov. (Nameless Cave) from Yunnan; T. japonicus (Ellingsen, 1907) and T. japonicus japonicus (Ellingsen, 1907), soil-dwelling species from Yunnan and Taiwan; T. pachythorax Redikorzev, 1938, a soil-dwelling species from Yunnan, Sichuan, and Fujian; and T. robustus Beier, 1951 a soil-dwelling species from Sichuan, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Shaanxi ( Schawaller 1995 ; Mahnert 2009 ; Gao et al 2018 , 2020 ; Hou et al 2022 ). The eyes of these cave-dwelling species are completely degraded.…”

Three new species of cave-adapted pseudoscorpions (Pseudoscorpiones, Chthoniidae) from eastern Yunnan, China

“…This genus can be diagnosed as follows: trichobothrium sb situated midway between st and b , or closer to st ; trichobothria ib and isb situated close together in a median or sub-basal position on the dorsum of the chelal hand; chelal hand not distally constricted and the movable finger without a complex or strongly sclerotized apodeme at the base; fixed finger usually with one large, medial acuminate spine-like seta at its base, but can be reduced or absent in some cave-dwelling species; coxal spines generally long and present on coxae II only; epistome pointed, triangular or rounded, inconspicuous and usually with two closely-flanking setae at its base ( Chamberlin 1962 ; Muchmore 1984 , 1991 ; Muchmore and Chamberlin 1995 ; Edward and Harvey 2008 ). So far, 15 species and one subspecies of this genus have been described from China, of which 12 are exclusively known from karst caves ( Mahnert 2009 ; Gao et al 2018 , 2020 ; Hou et al 2022a ; Li 2022 ; WPC 2022 ).…”

“…At present, this genus contains 67 species (19 species living in caves) distributed in Asia, Australia, Africa, and America. Twenty species of this genus have been described from China, 13 of which are exclusively known from karst caves ( Li et al 2019 ; Hou et al 2022a , b ; WPC 2022 ).…”