Caucasiana 3: 257-262 (2024) DOI: 10.3897/caucasiana.3.e137446 #\)/ CAUCASIANA Journal on the biodiversity of the Caucasus and the adjacent regions Short Communication First record of the family Atemnidae (Pseudoscorpiones) from Armenia Mariam Gogshelidze', Janos Novak2® 1 Institute of Zoology, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia 2 Edtvos Lordnd University, Faculty of Science, Institute of Biology, Budapest, Hungary Corresponding author: Mariam Gogshelidze (mariam.gogshelidze. 1@iliauni.edu.ge) OPEN Qaceess Academic editor: Levan Mumladze Received: 19 September 2024 Accepted: 14 November 2024 Published: 11 December 2024 ZooBank: https://zoobank.org/ FAD9F298-C426-423F-9AE3- B7654DE4C66D Citation: Gogshelidze M, Novak J (2024) First record of the family Atemnidae (Pseudoscorpiones) from Armenia. Caucasiana 3: 257-262. https://doi. org/10.3897/caucasiana.3.e137446 Copyright: © Gogshelidze and Novak This is an open access article distributed under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (Attribution 4.0 International - CC BY 4.0). Abstract Diplotemnus balcanicus (Redikorzev, 1928) is reported from Armenia for the first time. This is also the first record of the family Atemnidae for Armenia. The finding is based on one male specimen found in the Ararat region, Angel’s Canyon, near Vedi. The de- scription of the main morphological and morphometrical characteristics of the collect- ed specimen is provided. Key words: Ararat region, Caucasus, Diplotemnus, new record, Pseudoscorpion Introduction Comprehensive works on the pseudoscorpion fauna of Armenia, together with Azerbaijan and Georgia, were published by Schawaller and Dashdamirov (1988) and Dashdamirov and Schawaller (1992). However, the most recent update on pseudoscorpions of Armenia is given in the World Pseudoscorpion Catalogue (WPC 2024), listing 16 pseudoscorpion species of the five families Cheliferi- dae, Chernetidae, Neobisiidae, Chthoniidae, and Olpiidae. The scarcity of research and the number of recorded taxa indicate that the pseudoscorpion fauna of this country is still very poorly studied. In this paper, we report Diplotemnus balcanicus (Redikorzev, 1928) as a new record for the Ar- menian pseudoscorpion fauna, which is also the first reported data of the family Atemnidae in the country. A single male specimen of D. balcanicus was collect- ed at Mount Ararat. This species is widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa and also occurs in neighboring countries (Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Iran (WPC, 2024)). Furthermore, a description of the main morphological characteristics of the collected Armenian specimen of D. balcanicus is provided. Materials and methods The male specimen of Diplotemnus balcanicus was collected in the frame of the Caucasus Barcode of Life (CaBOL - https://ggbc.eu/) project by Dr. Jonas Astrin on 14.V.2022 in Armenia (Fig. 1). The specimen was found by sifting leaf litter and extracted with the Wikler extractor. Zor Gogshelidze and Novak: First Atemnidae Record from Armenia The specimen underwent clearing in lactic acid and was examined as a temporary slide using stereo and light compound microscopes (Accu-Scope- Exc-350). Following the lactic acid treatment, the specimen was rinsed in dis- tilled water and then preserved in 70% ethanol. The measurements and photos were acquired through Capta Vision software. Species identification was based on key references, including Beier (1932), Novak and Harvey (2015), and Krajcovicova et al. (2021). The specimen is de- posited at LIB Biobank at Museum Koenig. Results Family Atemnidae Kishida, 1929 Genus Diplotemnus Chamberlin, 1933 Diplotemnus balcanicus (Redikorzev, 1928) Material examined. Armenia * 1 (ZFMK-TIS-97516); Ararat valley, Angel’s Can- yon, near the town Vedi; 39°56'52.8"N, 44°44'27.6"E; 1025 m a.s.|.; sifted leaf litter; 14-May.2022; leg: Astrin J. Short description. Carapace and tergites yellowish-brown, pedipalps dark reddish-brown. Setae on body and palps apically dentate. Carapace (Fig. 2 A). 1.37x longer than wide, strongly granulated with two transverse furrows. Two pairs of eyes are present, with one pair of preocular setae. Four setae at the anterior and ten on the posterior margin of the cara- pace. Lyrifissures: two pairs at the anterior, one pair at the medial, and one pair at the posterior disk. Chelicera. 2.02x longer than broad, with five setae on hand; one seta on the movable finger; serrula exterior with 18 blades; galea not visible (broken); curved teeth at the base of galea present; fixed finger with three small teeth at the marginal end. Coxae. Pedipalpal coxae with 8 setae; setation of pedal coxae: coxa | :8, coxa Il: 8, coxa Ill: 7(9) and coxa IV 12 setae. Pedipalp (Fig. 2 B). Robust and strongly granulated; femur 2.91x, patella 2.06x, chela 2.55x, hand with pedicel 2.61x longer than broad. Chelal movable finger shorter than hand without pedicel. Venom apparatus only in fixed finger. Fixed chelal finger with thirty-two, movable finger with thirty-two cusped teeth. Abdomen. Chaetotaxy of tergites I-XI: 6:6:4:5:6:5:5:5:5:5:4. On the anal cone two short setae visible. Lyrifissures on half of the tergites III-Xl: 2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:4: sternal chaetotaxy: Ill-Xl: 6:8:(?):6:6:6:7:6:5; sternal lyrifissures (on half-terg- ites): II-XI: 2:2:2:2:2:2:2:4:2. Legs. Leg I: trochanter 1.25 x, femur 1.71x, patella 2.78x, tibia 3.46x, tarsus 5.08x times longer than broad; leg IV (Fig. 2 C): trochanter 1.67x, femoropatella 3.13x, tibia 4.11x, tarsus 3.97x times longer than broad; one submedial tactile seta (broken) on tarsus IV, somewhat proximal to the middle of the article (Fig. 3). Dimensions (in mm). Body — 3.27; Carapace — 1.09/0.80 (1.37x); Chelicera — 0.24/0.11 (2.20x); Cheliceral movable finger 0.22; Pedipalp: Femur — 0.89/0.30 (2.91x); Patella - 0.80/0.39 (2.06x); Chela — 1.34/0.52 (2.55x); Hand with ped- icel - 1.37; Chelal movable finger — 0.44; Leg I: trochanter — 0.17/0.14 (1.25x); Caucasiana 3: 257-262 (2024), DOI: 10.3897/caucasiana.3.e137446 258 Gogshelidze and Novak: First Atemnidae Record from Armenia Diplotemnus}balcanicusis@ a Figures 1. The map of Armenia with the sampling locality (yellow dot) of the Diplotemnus balcanicus speci- men studied. femur - 0.25/0.15 (1.71x); patella - 0.47/0.17 (2.78x); tibia - 0.39/0.11 (3.46x); tarsus — 0.39/0.07 (5.08x). Leg IV: trochanter — 0.29/0.17 (1.67x); fe- mur + patella — 0.87/0.28 (3.13x); tibia — 0.75/0.18 (4.11x); tarsus — 0.45/0.11 (3.97x). Notes. Besides Diplotemnus balcanicus, two other species of the family Atem- nidae are known in the neighboring countries: Atemnus politus (Simon, 1878) from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Turkey, and A. syriacus (Beier, 1955) from Turkey (WPC, 2024). Genus Diplotemnus differs from Atemnus by the following morphological characteristics: a granulated carapace with two distinctive trans- verse furrows, the presence of two corneate eyes, and having the trichobothri- um of leg IV tarsus near the middle of the article (it is basal in Atemnus). Diplotemnus balcanicus can be distinguished from the other two Diplotem- nus species of Europe and Asia by the following characters: the number of preocular seta (D. pieperi Helversen, 1965 has three preocular seta, where- as D. balcanicus only has one), and the smaller body size (D. egregius Beier, 1959 pedipalpal femur 1.45-1.65 mm and pedipalpal patella 1.45-1.55 mm in length, whereas in the newly found D. balcanicus specimen these measure- ments range from 0.99-1.25 and 1.08-1.21 mm) (Beier, 1959; Helversen, 1965; Novak and Harvey, 2015; Kraj¢éovicova et al. 2021). The Armenian specimen is smaller than the Slovakian specimen rediscov- ered in 2019 (body length: Armenian specimen — 3.27 mm, Slovakian specimen Caucasiana 3: 257-262 (2024), DOI: 10.3897/caucasiana.3.e137446 259 Gogshelidze and Novak: First Atemnidae Record from Armenia + a 4 7 1mm 0.5 mm Figure 2. The studied male specimen of Diplotemnus balcanicus. A: Entire body, dorsal view; B: Right chela, lateral view; C: Righ Leg IV, lateral view. Figure 3. Right leg IV Telotarsus, lateral view. The arrow is pointing at subme- dial tactile seta. Caucasiana 3: 257-262 (2024), DOI: 10.3897/caucasiana.3.e137446 260 Gogshelidze and Novak: First Atemnidae Record from Armenia — 3.75 mm; palpal femur: Armenian specimen — 0.89 mm, Slovakian specimen - 1.25 mm; leg IV femur + patella: Armenian specimen — 0.87 mm, Slovaki- an specimen — 1.20 mm) (Krajcovicova et al. 2021). This difference can be attributed to geographical distance and intraspecific variation. In a 2015 pub- lication, Novak and Harvey proposed several species as junior synonyms of Diplotemnus balcanicus (Redikorzev, 1928). In the original descriptions of the synonymized species, the body dimensions have high variability (Novak and Harvey 2015). Recently synonymized Diplotemnus lindbergi (Beier, 1960), dis- tributed in Afghanistan, is the closest to the Armenian specimen in body mea- surements, as the holotype dimensions are as follows: body length 3.5 mm; carapace length 0.88 mm; pedipalpal femur L/W 0.70/0.27 mm; and chelal movable finger length 0.51 mm (Beier, 1960). Considering the above-mentioned distinctive characters between the stud- ied specimen and other atemnid taxa, coupled with great interspecific variation and the huge geographical area of D. balcanicus, the newly recorded specimen in Armenia can be attributed to D. balcanicus, adding further information on the dimensional variation of the species. Discussion The pseudoscorpion family Atemnidae Kishinda, 1929, currently comprises 21 genera and 190 species worldwide (WPC 2024). Diplotemnus is a very widespread genus and has been found in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Currently, there are nine species of Diplotemnus known to science, and only D. balcanicus is distributed in the Caucasus region (except Georgia). The taxonomic status of D. balcanicus was recently clarified by Novak and Har- vey (2015), and several taxa were synonymized with it, including Diplotemnus insolitus Chamberlin, 1933; Diplotemnus insolitus sinensis (Schenkel, 1953); Diplotemnus vachoni Dumitresco and Orghidan, 1969; and Withius soderbomi (Schenkel, 1937) (Novak and Harvey, 2015). Given the large distribution area and high interspecific variability, molecular genetic methods are further neces- sary to improve the taxonomic understanding and reveal possible cryptic diver- sity within this species. Acknowledgements We are grateful to the Caucasian Barcode of Life project for collecting and de- livering the pseudoscorpion material. We would like to thank the collector, Dr. Jonas Astrin, for providing information about the collecting methods and habi- tat pictures. Special thanks belong to Dr. Shalva Barjadze for providing us with the laboratory and all the necessary equipment. Also, we are grateful to Armen Seropian for the specimen photos. We are grateful to Dr. Jana Christophory- ova for her valuable comments and suggestions on upgrading the manuscript during the review process. Additional information Conflict of interest The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Caucasiana 3: 257-262 (2024), DOI: 10.3897/caucasiana.3.e137446 261 Gogshelidze and Novak: First Atemnidae Record from Armenia Ethical statement No ethical statement was reported. Funding Visegrad Fund (scholarship ID: 52310276); German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the grant number 01DK20014A. Author contributions All authors have contributed equally. 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