Belisarius xambeui
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Belisarius xambeui |
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| Simon , 1879 |
Belisarius xambeui is acommon scorpion in the Pyrenees . The family membership of the genus Belisarius is disputed, it belongs to one of the families Troglotayosicidae or Superstitioniidae .
description
Belisarius xambeui is up to 27.6 millimeters long, according to older publications up to 37 millimeters in length, a small scorpion with a reddish to reddish-brown basic color. The lighter colored rear edges of the tergites make the adult scorpions appear striated. The pedipalps are reddish brown, while the chelae are darker than the patellae and femora . The ventral side and legs are yellowish with pale yellow comb organs and genital perculum . The telson has a spherical but flattened yellowish poisonous bladder and a short and strongly curved poisonous sting . The limbs have very weak granulation or are smooth, the carapace and tergites have only small granules on the surface.
The anterior carapace has a slight indentation. The median pair of ocelles is absent and the lateral ones have almost completely receded. The sternum type 2, approximately pentagonal, slightly wider than long. The comb organs are very short and have three to six teeth on each side. This unusually low number is understood as an adaptation to humid habitats.
The fingers of the chelicerae are strongly curved and the movable fingers are provided with a serrula at the extreme end . The trichobothria pattern of the pedipalps corresponds to type C, without additional trichobothria.
The species has only a slightly pronounced sexual dimorphism . Male scorpions are slightly smaller and appear more elongated due to their proportionally longer metasoma . They have sparse granulation of the carapace, especially laterally in the rear area. Their genial opculum is almost as long as it is wide and is completely longitudinally divided, while in female scorpions it is shorter and has only one groove in the middle. Only male scorpions have two genital papillae. The venomous bladders of male scorpions are larger, while the venomous stings are shorter than those of female scorpions.
Belisarius xambeui is significantly smaller compared to Belisarius ibericus , the only other species in the genus Belisarius . Belisarius xambeui has a weaker indentation of the anterior carapace and the eyes are absent or almost completely regressed, while in Belisarius ibericus the lateral pairs of eyes are partially still provided with lenses.
distribution and habitat
The Terra typica of Belisarius xambeui is the Vallée de Quillan in the area of the municipality of Conat , about five kilometers west of Prades in the French department Pyrénées-Orientales ( 42 ° 36 ′ 50.3 ″ N , 2 ° 21 ′ 31.4 ″ E ). The distribution area is overall quite small and lies in the French department Pyrénées-Orientales with three caves and eight above-ground sites, as well as in the north of Catalonia with 15 caves and 18 other sites.
Among the habitats of Belisarius xambeui include various caves in the area of distribution, including the Cave of Can Britxot in the town of Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste . The cave is located at about 1,250 meters above sea level on the south-southwest flank of a limestone mountain range with a dry and warm climate. There it forms a temperature-controlled and humid retreat, which in midsummer has a temperature of around 13 ° Celsius and a humidity of more than 90 percent.
Belisarius xambeui is an element of the soil fauna and is found more often outside than inside caves , regardless of its morphology suggesting a cave dweller . The first known sites were beech forests on limestone subsoil with dense undergrowth and cool, moist air at an altitude of around 600 to 1,500 meters. There the species lives both in the litter layer and in cavities between stones and in cracks in the rock. Recent research has also produced finds on shale, which is attributed to the presence of suitable cavities.
Way of life
The scorpions that live outside of caves are mostly hidden under leaves and in small cavities. There are centipedes , millipedes , arachnids , crickets , flies and springtails often used for Belisarius xambeui may represent an important food. Remains of beetles, including ground beetles , were often found at its sites . Prey animals are regularly first scanned with the chelae , grasped and led to the chelicerae . The poison sting is only used with defensive prey.
The mating and the birth of the five to 24 cubs take place throughout the year. Nothing is known about the intervals between the generations. The small number of offspring compared to other species of scorpions and the lack of a specific mating season appear to be adaptations to cave life, as has also been observed in cave spiders and other cave animals . While she carries her offspring on her back, the mother is severely restricted in her mobility and spends most of the time resting motionless. The first moult for all boys takes place almost simultaneously on the first day, after which they have a whitish-yellow color with brown tips of the chelae. At the age of 26 to 28 days, the juvenile scorpions begin to explore their surroundings. During the first year of life, three more moults take place, after about one month, three months and ten months. According to various statements by several authors, six to seven or 10 to 11 moults occur until the adult scorpion.
Hazard and protection
Belisarius xambeui has a small distribution area and the majority of its sites are in caves and other rare biotopes that are sensitive to anthropogenic influences . However, it is assumed that it is only apparently rare because its way of life saves it from detection in the smallest of cavities that are inaccessible to humans. There is a possible risk from collectors, be it for keeping terrariums or as a preparation, but in the past Belisarius xambeui was of no importance in the pet trade. Since the species is not considered to be threatened, there are no protective measures that go beyond the establishment of nature reserves in its range.
Systematics
Initial description
It was first described in 1879 by the French arachnologist Eugène Simon in the seventh volume of his work Les Arachnides de France . Only female specimens were available to Simon for his work; males were not described until 1924 by the Italian entomologist and arachnologist Alberto Borelli .
Type material
The holotype is an adult female scorpion from the locality of the type. It was in the collection of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris, but was considered lost. According to the arachnologist Max Vachon, there were two juvenile male and ten female paratypes in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. However, not all of these types came from where the type was found and some of them had been collected decades after the species was described. In the course of a thorough examination of the collection specimens in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, two specimens kept together in a glass container were found and identified as Simon's holotype and a specimen collected together with him.
etymology
The species name refers to the French entomologist Pierre Vincent Xambeu , who collected the type specimens and made them available to Eugène Simon.
literature
- Michèle Auber: Observations sur le biotope et la biologie du scorpion aveugle: Belisarius xambeui E. Simon . In: Vie et Milieu 1959, Volume 10, No. 2, pp. 160-167, ZDB -ID 200337-5 .
- Stéphane Jaulin et al .: Belisarius xambeui - Le Bélisaire de Xambeu, le scorpion endémique de Catalogne. Inventaire et cartographie de l'espèce dans les Pyrénées-Orientales. Report d'étude de l'Opie et de la FRNC . Conseil Général des Pyrénées-Orientales, Perpignan 2010, Online PDF , 3.6 MB.
- Eugène Simon: 3rd order. - Scorpiones . In: the same: Les Arachnides de France. VII. Contenant les Ordres des Chernetes, Scorpiones et Opiliones . Roret, Paris 1879, pp. 79–115, here pp. 114–115 and panel XX (first description).
- Max Vachon: Remarques sur le scorpion aveugle du Roussillon: Belisarius xambeui ES In: Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle 1944, Volume 16, No. 5, pp. 298-305, digitized .
Individual evidence
- ^ Max Vachon: Remarques sur le scorpion aveugle du Roussillon: Belisarius xambeui ES , p. 301.
- ^ A b c d Wilson R. Lourenço: The genus Belisarius Simon, 1879 (Scorpiones: Troglotayosicidae), with the description of a new vicariant species from the south of Spain. In: Comptes Rendus Biologies 2015, Volume 338, No. 5, pp. 362-367, doi : 10.1016 / j.crvi.2015.03.014 .
- ↑ a b c Michel Emerit and Guy Pinault: L'étrange scorpion aveugle des Pyrénées-Orientales: Belisarius xambeui Simon 1879 . In: Annales de la Société d'Horticulture et d'Histoire Naturelle de l'Hérault 1995, Volume 135, No. 1-2, pp. 8-11, ZDB ID 407543-2 .
- ↑ a b Stéphane Jaulin et al .: Belisarius xambeui - Le Bélisaire de Xambeu, le scorpion endémique de Catalogne , p. 28.
- ^ Max Vachon: Remarques sur le scorpion aveugle du Roussillon: Belisarius xambeui ES , p. 303.
- ^ Matthew R. Graham and Victor Fet: Serrula in retrospect: a historical look at scorpion literature (Scorpiones: Orthosterni) . In: Euscorpius 2006, No. 48, p. 3, Online PDF , 6.0 MB.
- ^ A b Alfredo Borelli: Descrizione del maschio del Belisarius xambeui E. Sim. In: Trabajos del Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Barcelona 1924, Volume 4, No. 9, pp. 3–6, online PDF , 2.1 MB.
- ↑ a b c d Michel Emerit, Guy Pinault and Roland Stockmann: L'étrange Scorpion aveugle des Pyrénées-Orientales: Belisarius xambeui Simon 1879 . In: Insectes 1996, No. 100, pp. 25-27, Online PDF , 733 kB.
- ^ A b Victor Fet and W. David Sissom: Family Troglotayosicidae Lourenço, 1998 . In: Victor Fet et al .: Catalog of the scorpions of the world (1758-1998). The New York Entomological Society, New York 2000, pp. 501-502, download links , accessed December 23, 2017.
- ↑ Michèle Auber: Observations sur le biotope et la biologie du scorpion aveugle: Belisarius xambeui E. Simon , p. 160.
- ↑ Michèle Auber: Observations sur le biotope et la biologie du scorpion aveugle: Belisarius xambeui E. Simon , p. 161.
- ↑ Stéphane Jaulin et al .: Belisarius xambeui - Le Bélisaire de Xambeu, le scorpion endémique de Catalogne , p. 5.
- ↑ a b Stéphane Jaulin et al .: Belisarius xambeui - Le Bélisaire de Xambeu, le scorpion endémique de Catalogne , p. 25.
- ↑ a b Stéphane Jaulin et al .: Belisarius xambeui - Le Bélisaire de Xambeu, le scorpion endémique de Catalogne , p. 36.
- ↑ Michèle Auber: Observations sur le biotope et la biologie du scorpion aveugle: Belisarius xambeui E. Simon , p. 162.
- ↑ Michèle Auber: Observations sur le biotope et la biologie du scorpion aveugle: Belisarius xambeui E. Simon , p. 163.
- ↑ Stéphane Jaulin et al .: Belisarius xambeui - Le Bélisaire de Xambeu, le scorpion endémique de Catalogne , p. 34.
- ↑ Michèle Auber: Observations sur le biotope et la biologie du scorpion aveugle: Belisarius xambeui E. Simon , pp. 164–166.
- ↑ Stéphane Jaulin et al .: Belisarius xambeui - Le Bélisaire de Xambeu, le scorpion endémique de Catalogne , p. 32.
- ^ A b Eugène Simon: 3rd order. - Scorpiones .