Comparisons: Species in the partly sympatric Paruroctonus baergi (Williams and Hadley, 1967) group (see Haradon, 1984) differ in having: pectinal teeth in males 23-29 (except one population of P. baergi with low of 20), females 17-22 (except certain populations of P. baergf with lows of 13-I 5); pedipalp movable finger length/palm length ratio in adult males 1 .I-1.2; carapace length/pectine length ratio in adult females 1.2-1.4; pedipalp primary denticles in rows 1-5 total on fixed f’mger 28-44, movable finger 36-57; pedipalp palm in both sexes with cadnae well developed, granular, intercarinal surfaces concave.
Paruroctonus xanthus (Gertsch and Soleglad, 1966), from the southeastern part of the Colorado Desert, differs primarily in having: pectinal teeth in males 28-32, females 19-23; pedipalp primary denticles on movable finger in seven (not six) rows; pedipalp primary denticles total in rows 1-5 on fixed finger more than 80, in rows 1-6 on movable finger more than 90; pedipalp movable Finger length/palm length ratio in adults of both sexes 1.5-1.6.
All other species in the subgenus Paruroctonus, and representing several species groups, have a distinctly differentiated mrs seta on basitalsus II.
Group description.-Total adult length 24 to 41 mm (rarely longer); adult carapace length in males 3.3-4.5 mm( rarely longer), females 3.5-5.2 mm(r arely longer); pedipalp movable finger length/palm length ratio in adult females 1.0-1.1; carapace length/pectine length ratio in adult males 0.9-1.0, pectines extend to about 1/3 length of trochanter IV, pectines in adult female usually do not extend to trochanter IV; carapacial, mesosomal, metasomal and pedipalpal cuticular surfaces generally granular in adult males, smooth and glossy in juvenile males (see Williams 1980: fig. 43) and juvenile and adult females; carapace length/chelieeral fixed digit length ratio 6.8-8.6; pedipalp humerus with two inframedial macrosetae on proximal 3/5 of internal surface (except inconspicuous or absent in P. hirsutipes, n. sp.); pedipalp fingers with six rows of primary denticles [except rows indistinct in Paruroctonus pseudopumilis (Williams, 1970b)]; pedipalp fingers of adult males scalloped, dosed fingers form proximal gap (except in P. pseudopumilis); basitarsi I-III, especially in females, moderatelyto strongly compressed laterally; distinctly differentiated mrs seta absent on basitarsi I-II, present on III-IV; telotarsi II-IV with two retroinferior terminal setae.
Remarks.-This species group is named after P. borregoensis, one of the group’s more widely distributed and morphologically typical species. Paravae]ovis Williams, 1980, represented only by Paravae]ovis pumilis (Williams 1970a) from the Magdalena Plain in Baja California Sur, is differentiated from other vaejovines by having 34 trichobothria on the pedipalp chela. However, species deviating from the typical vaejovine count of 26 chelal trichobothria are now known in Uroctonus Thorell 1876, and from the typical 14 external trichobothria on the brachium in Vaejovis Koch, 1836, and Paruroctonus (see P. ammonastes, n. sp., below). Thus, the phylogenetic significance of the deviation exhibited by Paravaejovis from other vaejovines is open to doubt. Before any taxonomic importance was attached to the trichobothrial count in Paravae]ovis, Stahnke (1974:138), who made no mention of that characteristic, placed this taxon in Paruroctonus, for reasons not explicitly stated. The structure of the carapace, metasoma, pectines, pedipalps and legs, and the sexual dimorphism shown by Paravae/ovis, indicate to me that this taxon is most closely related, if not subordinate, to the borregoensis group. This problem, however, is not yet resolved.
