New species of the pseudoscorpion genus Synsphyronus (Pseudoscorpiones: Garypidae) from Australia

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 3 years ago

ABSTRACT – The pseudoscorpion genus Synsphyronus is endemic to the Australasian region with 30 species from Australia, two from New Zealand, and one from New Caledonia. Seven new species are described from Australia mostly based on specimens collected on various BushBlitz expeditions: S. codyi sp. nov., S. patricki sp. nov., S. pharangites sp. nov., S. samueli sp. nov. and S. xynus sp. nov. from Western Australia, and S. marinae sp. nov. and S. sertus sp. nov. from the Northern Territory. Like other species of Synsphyronus, all species have reduced trichobothrial numbers on at least one chelal finger, with S. codyi, S. patricki, S. samueli and S. sertus having eight trichobothria on the fixed finger and three on the movable finger (denoted as 8/3), S. marinae has 8/2, S. xynus has 8/1 and S. pharangites has 7/1. Five of the new species (S. codyi, S. marinae, S. pharangites, S. sertus and
S. xynus) have fused metatarsi and tarsi, which brings the total number of species with this neotenic feature to 12 of the 40 named species. Certain meristic data for S. gurdoni Harvey, Abrams and Burger, 2015 are corrected. Six of the new species have only been found at a single location, despite concentrated searching for additional specimens in adjacent habitats, and may have very small distributions indicative of short-range endemism. The seventh species, S. xynus, is widely distributed in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. COI barcode data are provided for S. marinae, S. sertus and S. xynus.