Neotype designation for Scorpiops pachmarhicus Bastawade, 1992 (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae), with redescription and notes on the species
Author
Mirza, Zeeshan A.
Author
Gowande, Gaurang
text
Euscorpius
2016
223
1
7
journal article
1536-9307
1F8E6B4D-5C92-476D-B04B-D6A17C2C671F
Scorpiops pachmarhicus
Bastawade, 1992
(
Figs. 1–3
,
Table 1
)
Scorpiops
(
Scorpiops
)
pachmarhicus
Bastawade, 1992: 100
.
Neotype
(here designated): NCBS AT103,
♀
from near
Dhoopgarh
, near
Pachmarhi
,
Hoshangabad district
,
Madhya Pradesh
,
India
.
22.467818°N
,
78.388150°E
,
1125 m
asl
. Collected by
Rajesh Sanap
,
David Raju
&
Zeeshan Mirza
on
6
th
May 2014
.
Other material: two
♀
(NCBS AT104-AT105) and one
♂
(NCBS AT106), same data as for neotype
.
Figures 1–2:
Scorpiops pachmarhicus
female neotype NCBS AT103.
1 (top).
in life.
2 (bottom).
(A) dorsal aspect, (B) ventral aspect. Scale 10 mm.
Figure 3:
Scorpiops pachmarhicus
female neotype NCBS AT103, (A) pedipalp dorsal aspect, (B) manus and patella ventral aspect, (C) manus external view, (D) patella external view, (E) metasoma. Not in scale.
Description of
Neotype
Female NCBS AT103:
Coloration
(in preserved condition): Mostly yellow to yellow-brown. Carapace yellow-brown, median and lateral tubercles black. Tergites and metasoma brown. Vesicle light brown with reddish brown aculeus, basal por- tion of the aculeus blackish. Chelicerae yellow with reticulation, fingers yellow-brown, gradually become yellow towards the tips. Manus of pedipalps dark reddish-brown to black with black carinae, fingers black with reddish tips. Sternites and sternum yellow. Genital operculum, basal piece and pectines yellow. In living condition (
Fig. 1
), overall coloration a shade of brown, mesosoma, legs and metasoma brown, telson yellowish brown. Anterior half of carapace darker. Pedipalp dark reddish brown to black.
|
Neotype
|
|
Characters
|
AT103 |
AT104 |
AT105 |
AT106 |
|
Sex
|
♀ |
♀ |
♀ |
♂ |
|
total length
|
47.04 |
39.91 |
38.31 |
42.49 |
|
carapace length
|
6.6 |
6.27 |
5.93 |
6.25 |
|
carapace anterior width
|
3.6 |
3.22 |
2.74 |
2.78 |
|
carapace posterior width
|
5.54 |
5.3 |
4.84 |
5.4 |
|
mesosomal length
|
21.27 |
14.24 |
13.95 |
16.53 |
|
Metasoma total length
|
19.17 |
19.4 |
18.43 |
19.71 |
|
metasomal seg I length
|
2.07 |
1.9 |
1.91 |
2.23 |
|
metasomal seg I width
|
1.8 |
2.09 |
1.99 |
1.83 |
|
metasomal seg II length
|
2.61 |
2.66 |
2.06 |
2.25 |
|
metasomal seg II width
|
1.5 |
1.58 |
1.76 |
1.62 |
|
metasomal seg III length
|
2.7 |
2.33 |
2.38 |
2.5 |
|
metasomal seg III width
|
1.63 |
1.71 |
1.73 |
1.77 |
|
metasomal seg IV length
|
2.7 |
2.99 |
2.88 |
3.12 |
|
metasomal seg IV width
|
1.59 |
1.57 |
1.48 |
1.66 |
|
metasomal seg V length
|
4.33 |
4.51 |
3.9 |
4.58 |
|
metasomal seg V width
|
1.51 |
1.52 |
1.33 |
1.44 |
|
telson length
|
4.76 |
5.01 |
5.3 |
5.03 |
|
femur length
|
5.58 |
5.17 |
4.81 |
5.03 |
|
femur width
|
2.58 |
2.44 |
2.06 |
2.31 |
|
patella length
|
5.68 |
5.58 |
5.57 |
5.47 |
|
patella width
|
2.7 |
2.98 |
2.93 |
2.95 |
|
chela length
|
11.57 |
10.42 |
9.75 |
11.43 |
|
chela width
|
3.77 |
4.3 |
4.11 |
4.42 |
|
movable finger length
|
5.55 |
4.9 |
5.1 |
5.7 |
|
pectine L/R
|
7/6 |
7/7 |
7/8 |
7/7 |
Table 1:
Morphometry of
Scorpiops pachmarhicus
.
Morphology
: Prosoma (
Fig. 2
): Carapace with a slight gloss throughout, with minute sparsely distributed granules; anterior median furrow distinct and flat, posterior median and posterior lateral furrows distinct and deep; carinae absent; anterior and posterior margins sooth, anterior margin deeply notched; ocular tubercle welldeveloped, smooth, a pair of median eyes located much anteriorly in the ratio 1:2.51, three lateral eyes, anterior two larger than the third. A circular patch on each side between the median and lateral eyes. Chelicera small, basal segment smooth, brownish reticulation on the dorsal surface, basal segment yellow-brown, fingers dark brown, gradually turn light brown towards the tip, toothed normally, inferior fang of the movable finger provided with 8-9 teeth. Mesosoma (
Figs. 1–2
): Tergites I–V with sparse granulation throughout, especially concentrated on the posterior margin, pretergal region smooth; tergite I–VI with distinct median carinae, traces of lateral carinae but poorly developed, tergite VII with two pairs of carinae in the posterior portion; sternites III- VI smooth, presternites and presternal margins smooth, sternites III–VI provided with bracket-shaped stigmata for book lungs. Pedipalp stout and strong, carinated, manus medially depressed; femur flat, shorter than the carapace, carinated; all carinae show sparse granulation, inner carinae much more sparsely granulated, anterior surface with two small tubercles; patella marginally longer and wider than the femur, shorter than the carapace, carinated; carinae show sparse granulation, a small tubercle present on the anterior surface; chela long, much longer than wide, carinated, inner carinae more granular than the outer which are nearly smooth, can’t find any basal tubercles; manus shows shallow depression dorsally, not much flat, wider than femur and patella, carinated; all carinae sparsely granular, exterior carinae nearly smooth, intercarinal region coarsely granulated on inner portion, sparse granulations on the dorsal surface; fingers smooth, carinated, granules on the fingers. Trichobothrial pattern on femur, patella, manus and the fixed finger (
Fig. 3
) is consistent with Bastawade (1992); patella with 10 ventral, differ in relative positions of
Eb
2
to
Eb
1
on patella and
Dt
to
Eb
3
on manus, the rest typical for the family and genus (Tikader & Bastawade, 1983). Legs I–IV almost entirely smooth. Genital operculum wider than long, small genital papillae visible, pectines longer than wide, weakly developed, middle lamellae and fulcra indistinguishable, pectines 7/
6 in
female. Metasoma: Cauda almost thrice as long as the carapace; metasoma I longer than wide, only dorsal and ventral carinae fairly developed, others almost vestigial; telson longer than metasoma V, shorter than carapace, smooth; aculeus less than half the length of the vesicle, not much curved, sharp (
Fig. 3
).
Figure 4:
Typical habitat of Satpura Hills in central India. Photo by David Raju.
Natural history notes
: All the specimens were found along rocky outcrops at Dhoopgarh. The locality is the highest point in the Satpura Hills range at
1350 m
(
Fig. 4
) and is amidst a dense Sal forest. Specimens were found actively foraging on the rock with the aid of ultra violet flashlights. A few individuals were seen under boulder along a forest trail. A total of five individuals were collected however additional specimens of the species were encountered but were not collected.
Comments
Members of the three Indian genera of the family
Euscorpiidae
are distributed as follows:
Scorpiops
in western Himalayas and Satpuras,
Neoscorpiops
in Western
Maharashtra
, and
Euscorpiops
in northeastern
India
(
Figure 5
; Mirza et al., 2014; Zambre et al., 2014). The disjunct distribution is likely an artifact of incomplete sampling. Dedicated surveys in the intermediate zones will fill the large gap in the distribution as well as our understanding of this family. Designation of a
neotype
for
Scorpiops pachmarhicus
is in accordance with Article 75.3 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, ICZN (1999) and is based on a specimen collected from the type locality. The designation is deemed necessary to further enhance our understanding of scorpions of
India
and for a revisionary work on Indian scorpions, material of each species must be examined, ideally the type specimens. Most type specimens deposited at the collection of the Zoological Survey of
India
are either not traceable or are difficult to access even for a native researcher, making it really important to have
neotypes
designated for species whose types are missing, and have them deposited in museums which are accessible to researchers.