Cystowithius ankeri sp. nov. (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones: Withiidae), a new pseudoscorpion from the Central Andes of Colombia

. A new species of the pseudoscorpion genus Cystowithius Harvey, 2004 is described based on several males and females collected in the Cordillera Central near Manizales and Villamaría, Caldas, Colombia. The type series was collected under or on the bark of Eucalyptus grandis W. Hill ex Maiden (Myrtaceae). Cystowithius ankeri sp. nov. is the fifth species in the genus, differing from its four congeners by several characters, including the position of the male sternal invaginations, the length of the movable finger of the pedipalp, and the tactile setae of tarsus IV situated subdistally. A revised identification key to the five species of Cystowithius is also presented. The first barcode (COI gene) of a species of this genus is also provided.


INTRODUCTION
The cheliferoid family Withiidae Chamberlin, 1931 comprises 37 genera in two subfamilies: Paragoniochernetinae, restricted to southern Africa, and Withiinae, distributed worldwide (Harvey 2015).Cacodemoniini is the only group of the Withiinae that can be characterized using morphological characters, more precisely, by the separated lateral rods and a long ejaculatory canal formed not by the dorsal apodemes exclusively, but by a fusion of the dorsal and lateral apodemes (Romero-Ortiz and Sarmiento 2021).
Cystowithius Harvey, 2004 (Cacodemoniini) is known from the highlands of Central and South America, and can be differentiated from all other pseudoscorpion genera by the presence of paired, sac-like invaginations on the anterior margins of the sternites (Harvey 2004).The genus currently comprises four species: C. smithersi Harvey, 2004, the type species from Ecuador; C. chamberlini Harvey, 2004 from Guatemala and Mexico;C. ecuadoricus (Beier, 1959) from Ecuador and Peru; and C. colombicus Harvey, 2004 from Colombia.
A fifth species of the genus is described herein, based on male and female specimens found under or on the bark of eucalyptus trees in the municipalities of Manizales and Villamaría, Caldas, Colombia.
For the COI barcode, we used primers LCO1490 and HCO2198 (Folmer et al. 1994) and followed the extraction and amplification protocol in Murienne et al. (2008).
Distribution.Cordillera Central of the Colombian Andes: presently known only from Manizales and Villamaría areas of Caldas.
Etymology.This species is named after Dr. Arthur Anker, a zoologist with broad interests, who participated in the discovery of this new species.

DISCUSSION
The Central Cordillera in Colombia is part of the vast northern extension of the Andes.This mountain system is one of the richest biodiversity zones in the world, mainly due to formation of numerous ecological niches during its uplift (Hazzi  2017).Eucalyptus trees have deleterious effects on soil properties (Zhang et al. 2012), but the bark may serve as a link between the canopy and the leaf litter, with many different arthropods using bark niches as shelter and to search for food in the litter below (Majer et al. 2003).
Cystowithius ankeri sp.nov. is presently known only from the Cordillera Central, around Manizales and Villamaría, Caldas, where it may be found under the bark of Eucalyptus grandis W. Hill ex Maiden (Myrtaceae) (Figs 13,14).This eucalyptus species was introduced to Colombia from Queensland and New South Wales, Australia (Ospina et al. 2006), and was planted in the Botanical Gardens of the University of Caldas (Jardín Botánico de la Universidad de Caldas) in the 1980s.Like all species of Cystowithius, C. ankeri sp.nov. is found at higher altitudes (2150 m in Manizales and 2300 m in Villamaría).
Some specimens of C. ankeri sp.nov.were found under the bark of E. grandis; however, it was also common to observe females walking on the bark during the morning hours (8:00-10:00 am).On the other hand, males were more commonly observed outside of the bark in the late afternoon and first hours of the night.Each tree examined between 0 and 2 m of the trunk had about 10-30 individuals.Social behavioral interactions were not observed and neither was parental care.Males and females of C. ankeri sp.nov.were initially placed in separate Petri dishes, where they remained for some hours.However, we observed that some larger males were aggressive towards smaller males, thus showing some dominance behavior.Generally, it would be interesting to study some ecological and biological aspects of C. ankeri sp.nov., especially in situ behavior, niche occupation and dispersal.

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The native tree host of C. ankeri sp.nov. is currently unknown.The other three Andean species of Cystowithius were collected in the Paramo, for instance, C. smithersi in the leaf sheath of Espeletia pycnophylla Cuadrec (Harvey 2004).The two collection localities of C. ankeri sp.nov., i.e.Jardín Botánico in Manizales and Vereda Gallinazo in Villamaría, are approximately 58 and 30 km away, respectively, from the nearest Paramo habitats and it is possible that C. ankeri sp.nov.may eventually be found there as well.
Cystowithius could represent an interesting model for biogeographical studies, given the recent and complete descriptions and redescriptions of the five presently known species (Harvey 2004, present study) and their interesting distribution patterns in Central and South America .