Heterometrus gravimanus
| Heterometrus gravimanus | ||||||||||||
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| Heterometrus gravimanus | ||||||||||||
| ( Pocock , 1894) |
Heterometrus gravimanus is a scorpion of the family Scorpionidae widespreadin India and Sri Lanka .
description
Heterometrus gravimanus is a 75 to 110 millimeter long scorpion, adult animals have a reddish-brown basic color. The legs and telson are usually lighter in color. The chelae are lobed in shape, with a length to width ratio of about 1.8 to 2 to 1 in male and about 1.6 to 1.8 to 1 in female scorpions. Its top is covered with rounded granules, which form five keels, especially in the rear area. The femora and patella of the pedipalps of males are a little more elongated than those of females. The carapace has a smooth and shiny surface. The combs of the comb organ have 13 to 16 teeth in male scorpions and 11 to 13 teeth in female. The telson is elongated, with a poisonous bladder that is shorter than the poison sting .
distribution and habitat
As Terra typica of Heterometrus gravimanus only Ceylon was given in the first description , the island of Sri Lanka . The author, Reginald Innes Pocock, mentioned that there is another specimen of this species in the museum with the indication of origin India . Correspondingly, later authors gave India and Sri Lanka as the type location and distribution area, with the additional indication of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu . In addition, the species was detected in the state of Kerala . In 2016 the occurrence of the species for Sri Lanka was confirmed.
Way of life
Like all members of the genus, Heterometrus gravimanus is a burrowing species. Its living tubes are laid out in the open. Mothers inhabit tubes that are 30 to 60 centimeters long and bend once or twice as they go. Several of the tubes dug by their young descend from them underground. Every living tube of a young animal has its own exit to the outside, which is about 15 to 90 centimeters away from the entrance of the living tube of the mother animal.
Systematics
Initial description
It was first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1894 after a single male from Sri Lanka.
Type material
Pocock based his initial description on an adult male museum specimen from Sri Lanka. This specimen was in the British Natural History Museum , but can no longer be found. The authors Couzijn (1981), Tikader and Bastawade (1983) and Kovařík (2004) no longer had it for their revisions of the genus Heterometrus . A specimen from India mentioned by Pocock in his first description was established as the type specimen. It is in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London .
etymology
Pocock gave no information about the origin of the species name. It will be derived from the Latin words gravus (German: heavy ) and manus (German: hand ) and refer to the chelae of Heterometrus gravimanus. Respectively.
Synonyms (chronological)
- Scorpio gravimanus Pocock , 1894 : the name was given by Pocock in his first description. Later authors, including Pocock himself, no longer followed the definition of the genus Scorpio .
- Palamnaeus gravimanus Pocock , 1900 : In his volume on arachnids in the fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma , Pocock included the species in the genus Palamnaeus without further explanation . However, this had already been declared a synonym for Heterometrus by Ferdinand Karsch in 1879 .
- Pandinus gravimanus Simon , 1905 : Eugène Simon placed Palamnaeus gravimanus in the genus Pandinus . He justified this with a different weighting of certain morphological characteristics. The Japanese Arachnologe Haruo Takashima led Heterometrus gravimanus 1945 for the first time as the genus in his treatise on East Asian scorpions Heterometrus to belong.
- Heterometrus (Srilankametrus) indus indus Couzijn , 1981 (partially): In 1981 HWC Couzijn declared the species previously known as Heterometrus gravimanus to be a synonym for the nominate form of Heterometrus indus . This concerned the specimens from Sri Lanka. In addition, he described the subgenus Srilankametrus, in which he put Heterometrus indus .
- Heterometrus (Srilankametrus) indus laevitensus Couzijn , 1981 : this new subspecies was described by Couzijn in 1981 for those specimens of Heterometrus gravimanus that originate from India.
- Heterometrus (Srilankametrus) gravimanus Tikader & Bastawade , 1983 : the Indian arachnologists BK Tikader and DB Bastawade did not accept the synonymization by Couzijn and returned the species status to Heterometrus (Srilankametrus) gravimanus , without however going into the subspecies Heterometrus (Srilankametrus) . They kept the sub-genera described by Couzijn. The subgenus Srilankametrus and all other subgenus of Heterometrus described by Couzijn were repealed in 2004 by František Kovařík in his revision of the genus Heterometrus . Kovařík expressly stated that both of Couzijn's subspecies - Heterometrus indus indus only partially - are synonyms of Heterometrus gravimanus .
toxicology
From the venom of Heterometrus gravimanus one could hyaluronidase isolated. The enzyme itself is not toxic, but it is believed to be important in the distribution of other constituents of the scorpion venom in the tissue.
literature
- 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.
- František Kovařík et al .: Scorpions of Sri Lanka (Scorpiones: Buthidae, Chaerilidae, Scorpionidae) with description of four new species of the genera Charmus Karsch, 1879 and Reddyanus Vachon, 1972, stat. n. In: Euscorpius , 2016, No. 220, pp. 1–133, online PDF , 17.5 MB.
- Reginald Innes Pocock: A small contribution to our knowledge of the scorpions of India. In: Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1894, Volume 6, No. 13, pp. 72-84, digitized .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 17.
- ↑ a b František Kovařík et al .: Scorpions of Sri Lanka, pp. 96-100.
- ↑ a b c d Reginald Innes Pocock: A small contribution to our knowledge of the scorpions of India, pp. 75-77.
- ↑ DB Bastawade, PM Sureshan and C. Radhakrishnan: An illustrated key to the identification of Scorpions (Scorpionida: Arachnida) of Kerala and notes on some interesting new records. In: Records of Zoological Survey of India 2004, Volume 103, No. 1–2, pp. 43–58, Online PDF , 620 kB.
- ↑ František Kovařík et al .: Scorpions of Sri Lanka, pp. 120-122.
- ↑ Gérard Dupré: Dictionary of scientific scorpion names. In: Arachnides. Bulletin de Terrariophile et de Recherche 2016, Supplement to No. 78, p. 26, Online PDF , 560 kB.
- ^ Reginald Innes Pocock: Arachnida. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Taylor & Francis, London 1900, pp. 90-91, digitized .
- ^ Ferdinand Karsch: Scorpionological contributions. I. In: Mitteilungen des Münchener Entomologische Verein 1879, Volume 3, No. 1, pp. 6–22, here p. 20, digitized .
- ^ Eugène Simon: Voyage de M. Maurice Maindron dans l´Inde méridionale. Arachnides. In: Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 1905, Volume 74, pp. 160–180, here pp. 161–162, digitized .
- ↑ Haruo Takashima: 東 亜 地域 に 於 け る 全蠍 目 ( English: Scorpions of Eastern Asia). In: Acta Arachnologica, Tokyo 1945, Volume 9, Nos. 3-4, Pages 68-106, Online PDF .
- ^ A b 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. 121–125, online PDF , 18.6 MB.
- ^ František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 15.
- ^ František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 4.
- ↑ BK Tikader and DB Bastawade: Scorpions (Scorpionida: Arachnida). The Fauna of India, Vol. 3. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta 1983, pp. 550-555, Online PDF , 30 MB.
- ↑ Sunil S. Morey, KM Kiran and JR Gadag: Purification and properties of hyaluronidase from Palamneus gravimanus (Indian black scorpion) venom. In: Toxicon 2006, Volume 47, pp. 188-195, doi : 10.1016 / j.toxicon.2005.10.014 .