Sarax ioanniticus (Kritscher, 1959)
Sarax ioanniticus is a species of whip-spider with a wide distribution in the eastern Mediterranean basin: In Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan and Egypt. The only population in Italy (in an artificial tunnel in Trieste) is suspected to be introduced.
Sarax ioanniticus was found to be a sister species of Sarax israelensis (Miranda, Aharon, Gavish-Regev, Giupponi & Wizen, 2016), which patrially overlaps it in distribution.
Both species are small amblypygids with a conservative morphology, but S. israelensis is distinguished by well developed eyes, as well
photo by: Shlomi Aharon
An individual with juveniles from the Karmel Mountains
Distribution map (adapted from Colla et al.)
as reatively narrower cephalothorax and larger number of spines on the pedipalps. Untill recently, both were Included in the genus Charinus Simon, 1892. Not much is known about the ecology of this species. It has been recorded from natural caves, artificial tunnels and water cisterns, as well as dark and humid corners in houses.
This species is considered to be parthenogenetic throughout most of is range, as to date, males were found in Turkey only.
Accession in GENBANK:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/data-hub/taxonomy/1938788/
Accession in the World Arachnida Catalog:
Taxonomic Classification
Class: Arachnida
Order: Amblypygi
Family: Charinidae
Genus: Sarax
Species: Sarax ioanniticus
Author: Kritscher, 1959
Articles about Sarax ioanniticus:
Kritscher, E. (1959). Ergebnisse der von Dr. O. Paget und Dr. E. Kritscher auf Rhodos durchgeführten zoologischen Exkursionen. II. Pedipalpi (Amblypygi). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 63: 453–457.
Ecological Classification
Category: Troglophile
Cave zone: In all zones
Microhabitat: On walls, ceiling, under stones
Rosin, R. & Shulov, A. (1960). Representatives of the order Amblypygi (Arachnida) found in Israel. Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel 9B: 167–168.
Kraus, O. (1961). Charontidae aus Israel, ein zoogeographisch be merkenswertes Vorkommen (Arach., Pedipalpi - Amblypygi). Senckenbergiana Biologica 42: 491–493.
Weygoldt, P. (1972). Charontidae (Amblypygi) aus Brasilien. Zoologische Jahrbücher, Abteilung für Systematik, Ökologie und Geographie der Tiere 99: 107–132.
Delle Cave, L. (1986). Biospeleology of the Somaliland Amblypygi (Arachnida, Chelicerata) of the caves of the Showli Berdi and Mugdile (Bardera, Somaliland). Redia 69: 143–170.
Kovařík, F. & Vlasta, D. (1996). First report of Amblypygi (Charinidae: Charinus ioanniticus) from Turkey. Klapalekiana 32: 57–58.
El-Hennawy, H.K. (2002). The first record of Amblypygi from Egypt. Journal of Arachnology 30: 452–453.
Weygoldt, P. (2002). Chelicerata, Spinnentiere. In: Westheide, W. and Rieger, R. (ed.) Spezielle Zoologie Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin 1: Einzeller und Wirbellose Tiere: 449–497.
Harvey, M.S. (2003). Catalogue of the smaller arachnid orders of the world: Amblypygi, Uropygi, Schizomida, Palpigradi, Ricinulei and Solifugae. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
Weygoldt, P. (2005). Biogeography, systematic position, and reproduction of Charinus ioanniticus (Kritscher 1959), with the description of a new species from Pakistan (Chelicerata, Amblypygi, Charinidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica 85: 43–56.
Weygoldt, P. (2006). Courtship and sperm transfer in Charinus neocaledonicus Kraepelin, 1895 and Charinus australianus (L. Koch, 1867) (Arachnida, Amblypygi, Charinidae). Zoologischer Anzeiger 244: 239–247.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcz.2006.01.002
Weygoldt, P. (2007). Parthenogenesis and reproduction in Charinus ioanniticus (Kritscher, 1959) (Chelicerata, Amblypygi, Charinidae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 14: 81–82. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13156/arac.2007.14.2.81
Seiter, M. & Hörweg, C. (2014). The whip spider collection (Arachnida, Amblypygi) held in the Natural History Museum Vienna, Austria. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 46: 47–53.
Miranda, G.S., Aharon, S., Gavish-Regev, E., Giupponi, A.P.L. & Wizen, G. (2016). A new species of Charinus Simon, 1892 (Arachnida: Amblypygi: Charinidae) from Israel and new records of C. ioanniticus (Kritscher, 1959). European Journal of Entomology 234: 1–17.
Colla, A., Legittimo, C. M., Castellucci, F., Simeon, E., & De Miranda, G. S. (2020). First record of Amblypygi from Italy: charinus ioanniticus (Charinidae). Arachnology, 18(6), 642-648.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13156/arac.2020.18.6.642
Gavish-Regev, E., Aharon, S., Armiach Steinpress, I., Seifan, M., & Lubin, Y. (2021). A Primer on Spider Assemblages in Levantine Caves: The Neglected Subterranean Habitats of the Levant—A Biodiversity Mine. Diversity, 13(5), 179.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/d13050179
Baker, C.M., Ballesteros, A., Aharon, S., Gainett, G., Steinpress, A., Wizen, G., Sharma, P.P. & Gavish-Regev, E. (2022). Recent speciation and phenotypic plasticity within a parthenogenetic lineage of levantine whip spiders (Chelicerata: Amblypygi: Charinidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 175: e107560.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107560
Wu, S.-Y., Zhu, X.-Y., Liu, Y.-J., de Miranda, G.S., Román-Palacios, C., Li, Z. & He, Z.-Q. (2022). A new species of whip spider, Sarax sinensis sp. nov., from Fujian, China (Arachnida: Amblypygi: Charinidae). Zootaxa 5162(4): 397-409.