Ananteris chagasi Giupponi & de Vasconcelos & Lourenco 2009, sp. n.

Ananteris chagasi sp. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: CBC97796-8CBD-4AFF-B9CC-95F4FFD3232C

Figs 1-9, 28

Type material. Holotype. Male. (sub-adult). Brazil, State of Minas Gerais, Itacarambi, around Olhos d’água cave (Giupponi, Chagas-Junior, Baptista, Silvia leg.), 26/V/2006. Deposited in the arachnological collection of the Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Diagnosis. Species of small to moderate size when compared with the average size of the other species of the genus (16.3 mm in total length; see Table I). General coloration yellowish with intense variegated dark pigmentation. Pedipalps short and slender; fingers with 6 rows of granules; male pectines with 15-15 teeth. Th e new species can be distinguished from other known species of the genus, and in particular from A. balzanii, which is also distributed in the State of Minas Gerais by: (i) a different pattern of pigmentation; fingers of pedipalp chela in A. balzanii are yellow, whereas these are very dark in the new species; chelicerae in A. balzanii are totally covered by reticular spots, whereas in the new species these cover only the anterior and lateral edges, (ii) pedipalp fingers with have 7 rows of granules in A. balzanii, against only 6 in the new species, (iii) male pectines with 15 teeth, in contrast to 16-19 in A. balzanii, (iv) some distinct morphometric values (see Table I). Th e new species is possibly an endemic element to the state of Minas Gerais.

Etymology. Patronym is in honor of Dr. Amazonas Chagas Júnior. of the Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Description. Based on male holotype (measurements in Table I).

Coloration. Generally yellowish with dark brown to blackish pigmented zones on the body and its appendages. Prosoma: carapace yellowish with dark brown spots on the lateral and posterior edges; eyes surrounded by black pigment. Mesosoma: yellowish with confluent blackish zones on the posterior and lateral edges of tergites. Metasoma: segments I to V yellowish; all segments intensely marked with dark brown spots. Vesicle yellowish without spots; the base of the aculeus yellowish and the tip reddish. Venter yellowish; sternite VII with very diffused brownish spots. Chelicerae yellowish with variegated blackish spots over the anterior and lateral surfaces; fingers with blackish spots; teeth reddish. Pedipalps: yellowish; femur and patella with densely marked blackish-brown spots; chela hand almost entirely blackish-brown; fingers very dark. Legs yellowish, with several blackish-brown spots.

Morphology. Carapace with thin but intense granulation; anterior margin not emarginated, almost straight. Anterior median superciliary and posterior median carinae weak or absent. All furrows moderate to weak. Median ocular tubercle distinctly anterior to the centre of the carapace; median eyes separated by approximately one ocular diameter. Three pairs of lateral eyes. Sternum subpentagonal to pentagonal. Mesosoma: tergites with thin and sparse granulation. Median carina moderate to weak in all tergites. Tergite VII pentacarinate. Venter: genital operculum divided longitudinally, each plate more or less subtriangular in shape. Pectines: pectinal tooth count 15-15; basal middle lamellae of the pectines not dilated; fulcra absent. Sternites smooth; stigmata weakly elongate; setation moderate; sternite VII with very weakly marked carinae. Metasoma: segments I and II with 10 carinae, moderately crenulate. Segments III and IV with 8 carinae, moderately crenulate. Intercarinal spaces slightly granular, almost smooth. Segment V slightly rounded with 5 carinae. Telson moderately elongated and without granulations; with one ventral carina weakly marked; aculeus short and weakly curved; subaculear tooth strong and spinoid. Cheliceral dentition characteristic of the family Buthidae (Vachon 1963); fixed finger with two moderate basal teeth; movable finger with two weak basal teeth; ventral aspect of both finger and manus with dense, long setae. Pedipalps: femur pentacarinate; patella and chela with weak to vestigial carinae; internal face of patella with 5 minute spinoid granules; all faces slightly granular, almost smooth. Fixed and movable fingers with 6 almost linear rows of granules; two small external and one internal accessory granule present at the base of each row; three granules in the extremity of the fingers; Trichobothriotaxy; orthobothriotaxy A-ss-beta (Vachon 1974, 1975). Legs: tarsus with very numerous fine median setae ventrally. Tibial spurs moderately developed on leg IV; weak on leg III.