Heterometrus tristis
| Heterometrus tristis | ||||||||||||
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| Heterometrus tristis | ||||||||||||
| ( Henderson , 1919) |
Heterometrus tristis is an Indian scorpion in the Scorpionidae family .
description
Heterometrus tristis is a scorpion with a greenish-black basic color, the male holotype has a length of 116 millimeters according to the first description . Later size specifications for the type material differ considerably from this. Couzijn named a size of 120 millimeters for a male and 110 millimeters for a female animal. The Indian arachnologists Tikader and Bastawade stated that the females grow larger than the males. They named sizes of 98.5 millimeters for the female and 75.5 millimeters for the male animal for the type material. The poisonous bladder is reddish-yellow and the legs are lighter than the body, up to yellow in color. The carapace has a smooth and shiny surface in the middle, on the edges it is covered with granules. The metasoma is about three times as long as the carapace. The combs of the comb organ have 17 to 18 teeth.
Like many other species of the genus Heterometrus , Heterometrus tristis shows pronounced sexual dimorphism in the shape and proportions of the limbs of their pedipalps . The chelae of the pedipalps are much wider in the female scorpion than in the male.
Heterometrus tristis resembles, following the first description, the species Heterometrus fulvipes and Heterometrus wroughtoni . However, Heterometrus wroughtoni is smaller and has comparatively much wider chelae. HWC Couzijn stated in his revision of Heterometrus that the species was similar to Heterometrus phipsoni . The morphological features used by Couzijn to differentiate between species were questioned by Kovařík in 2004. This could not examine the type copies. Nevertheless, he considered Heterometrus tristis to be very similar or even identical to Heterometrus gravimanus .
distribution and habitat
For the terra typica of Heterometrus tristis , the first description stated: Tirupati Hills, North Arcot District, two males. Venkatagiri Hills, Nellore District, two females and one young male. The location was at an altitude of 650 to 1,000 meters above sea level. The first location is near the city of Tirupati in today 's Chittoor district , the second near Venkatagiri in the Nellore district . Both locations are in the south of the state of Andhra Pradesh , near the border with Tamil Nadu . Later authors always stated both states as the distribution area, but this information was based on an incorrect localization of the Tirupati Hills.
Way of life
The collector of the type specimens stated in 1904 that the scorpions had been found in short residential tubes, the entrance of which was under large stones. In some cases small frogs of the species Uperodon variegatus were found in the living tubes of the scorpions . It is known that these approximately 35 to 40 millimeter long frogs often seek shelter in termite mounds and socialize with scorpions of the genus Heterometrus in their living tubes. In the event of a disturbance, they run over the scorpions unmolested; when a scorpion walks over them, they become paralyzed and ignored. When irritated, the frogs give off a poisonous skin secretion that seems to protect them from attacks by the scorpions.
Systematics
Initial description
It was first described in 1919 by John Robertson Henderson on the basis of two adult male, two female and one sub-adult male scorpions. These were collected at the type location in 1904.
Type material
The type material is in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India in Calcutta . In 1981, in his revision of the genus Heterometrus, HWC Couzijn named a male holotype, an allotype, and a male paratype as adult specimens.
etymology
The author of the first description made no information about the meaning of the species name. In Latin, tristis means sad or gloomy .
Synonyms (chronological)
- Palamnaeus tristis Henderson , 1919: the name was given by Henderson in his first description, but the genus Palamnaeus had already been declared a synonym for Heterometrus by Ferdinand Karsch in 1879 .
- Heterometrus (Chersonesometrus) tristis Couzijn , 1981: HWC Couzijn described the subgenus Chersonesometrus in 1981 , in which he also placed Heterometrus tristis . The subgenus Chersonesometrus and all other subgenera of Heterometrus described by Couzijn were repealed in 2004 by František Kovařík in his revision of the genus Heterometrus .
literature
- John Robertson Henderson: Two new scorpions from Southern India. In: Records of the Indian Museum of Calcutta 1919, Volume 16, pp. 379-381, Plate XXI, digitized .
- František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus Ehrenberg, 1828, with descriptions of seven new species (Scorpiones, Scorpionidae). In: Euscorpius , 2004, No. 15, pp. 1-60, online PDF , 6.3 MB.
- BK Tikader and DB Bastawade: Scorpions (Scorpionida: Arachnida). The Fauna of India, Vol. 3. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta 1983, pp. 582-587, Online PDF , 30 MB.
Individual evidence
- ^ John Robertson Henderson: Two new scorpions from Southern India, pp. 380-381.
- ↑ a b c d H. WC Couzijn: Revision of the genus Heterometrus. In: Zoologische Verhandelingen 1981, Volume 184, No. 1, pp. 1–196 (also dissertation, University of Leiden 1981), here pp. 157–158, online PDF , 18.6 MB.
- ↑ BK Tikader and DB Bastawade: Scorpions (Scorpionida: Arachnida), pp 582-587.
- ^ A b c John Robertson Henderson: Two new scorpions from Southern India, p. 381.
- ↑ a b František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 4.
- ^ František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 44.
- ^ A b c John Robertson Henderson: Two new scorpions from Southern India, p. 380.
- ↑ CR Nayaran Rao and BS Ramanna: On a new genus of the family Engystomatidae (Batrachia). In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1925, Volume 95, No. 2, pp. 587-597, here pp. 589-590, doi : 10.1111 / j.1096-3642.1925.tb01529.x .
- ^ JC Daniel: Field Guide to the Amphibians of Western India. Part 2. In: Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 1963, Volume 60, No. 3, pp. 690-702, here pp. 700-701, digitized .
- ↑ Gérard Dupré: Dictionary of scientific scorpion names. In: Arachnides. Bulletin de Terrariophile et de Recherche 2016, Supplement to No. 78, p. 23, Online PDF , 560 kB.
- ^ Ferdinand Karsch: Scorpionological contributions. I. In: Mitteilungen des Münchener Entomologische Verein 1879, Volume 3, No. 1, pp. 6–22, here p. 20, digitized .