Heterometrus phipsoni

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Heterometrus phipsoni
Heterometrus phipsoni at the entrance to the living tube

Heterometrus phipsoni at the entrance to the living tube

Systematics
Sub-stem : Jawbearers (Chelicerata)
Class : Arachnids (arachnida)
Order : Scorpions (Scorpiones)
Family : Scorpionidae
Genre : Heterometrus
Type : Heterometrus phipsoni
Scientific name
Heterometrus phipsoni
( Pocock , 1893)

Heterometrus phipsoni is an Indian scorpion in the Scorpionidae family .

description

Heterometrus phipsoni is a 85 to 130 millimeter long scorpion with a reddish-brown to black basic color. Only the chelae and the telson are lighter, but sometimes also black. The chelae are slightly lobed and very hairy, with a length to width ratio of 2.5 to 3 to 1 in male and 2.2 to 2.5 to 1 in female scorpions. Their top has large, round granules that can merge into one another, but do not form keels. The limbs of the pedipalps show a pronounced sexual dimorphism . The femora and patella of males are longer than those of females, but not narrower. The chelae of the males are both longer and narrower. The carapace has a smooth and shiny surface, on the edges there are occasionally a few granules. The combs of the comb organ have 12 to 16 teeth in male scorpions and 10 to 15 teeth in female. The telson is hairy and elongated, with a poisonous bladder that is equal to or longer than the poison sting .

Heterometrus phipsoni is very similar in morphology to Heterometrus mysorensis . This species has only a few granules arranged in rows on the chelae, while in Heterometrus phipsoni they are densely covered with granules.

distribution and habitat

Living space, under the stone is the entrance to the tube shown above

As Terra typica of Heterometrus phipsoni was given in the first description for the male scorpion India, Madras and for a female Sheveroy Hills . The indication Madras can refer to today's city of Chennai ( 13 ° 5 ′  N , 80 ° 17 ′  E ), but also to the presidency of Madras . The Servarayan Hills ( 11 ° 50 '  N , 78 ° 16'  O ), Anglicised Sheveroy Hills , are as Chennai today in the area of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu .

In addition to Tamil Nadu, the Indian state in which the type was found, finds of Heterometrus phipsoni from Kerala , Madhya Pradesh , Maharashtra , Odisha and West Bengal have been reported.

Way of life

Pairing dance "Promenade à deux"
Mating ritual, massage of the female's chelicerae
Ingestion of the sperm
Spermatophores after insemination
Female scorpion with cubs
Juvenile scorpion
Juvenile scorpion with no metasoma

Heterometrus phipsoni belongs to the pelophilic species of scorpions that dig burrows in loamy soil. Its living tubes are often located under stones or at the base of trees. It shares its habitat in Maharashtra with scorpions of the species Hottentotta tamulus and the genus Lychas .

The mating behavior of this species could be observed in the laboratory. The male approached the female, grabbed the female's scissors with his scissors, and began the mating ritual described by other species of scorpions as a “wedding dance” . The scorpions moved back and forth together over a longer period of time. At an advanced stage of the mating ritual, the male seized the female's chelicerae and began massaging them. This process is said to have a calming effect on the female, but the male was stung in the process. During mating, the male was observed to vigorously move his crest organs and that his body was trembling. In the course of the mating ritual, the male freed part of the terrarium floor from the soil substrate and deposited a single spermatophore about 10.5 millimeters long . The couple then separated and the male was also driven away with stings. The female went to the spermatophore and ingested the sperm, wrinkling its mesosoma badly.

Ten weeks after the mating observed in the laboratory, nine whitish-yellow juvenile scorpions about 10 to 15 millimeters long were found on the back of the female, one of which had a missing metasoma. During the first month of rearing her young, the female did not eat. The rearing period was 71 days and the pups left the mother after the fourth moult.

Systematics

Initial description

The first description was made by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1893 on the basis of a male museum specimen.

Type material

The holotype is a male scorpion from Madras, the female paratype is from the Servarayan Hills . There are also two female specimens from the Nilgiri Mountains , based on which Pocock described Heterometrus phipsoni collinus in 1900 . All type copies are in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London .

etymology

Pocock dedicated the newly described scorpion to Herbert Musgrave Phipson , honorary chairman of the Bombay Natural History Society and editor of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, in which he published the first description of Heterometrus phipsoni and numerous other articles. Later speculations in the literature that the species name was a tribute to Emma Phipson are wrong.

Synonyms and misspellings (chronological)

  • Scorpio phipsoni Pocock , 1893 : the name was given by Pocock in his first description.
  • Palamnaeus phipsoni Pocock , 1900 : in his arachnid band within the Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma , Pocock placed the species in the genus Palamnaeus without further explanation . However, the genus Palamnaeus had already been declared a synonym for Heterometrus by Ferdinand Karsch in 1879 .
  • Palamnaeus phipsoni carnaticus Pocock , 1900 : Pocock only used the term carnaticus incorrectly , so it has no meaning in the zoological nomenclature.
  • Palamnaeus phipsoni collinus Pocock , 1900 : Pocock described a new subspecies in 1900 with Palamnaeus phipsoni collinus . The description was based on a scorpion that had ingested shortly before being picked up and therefore had a larger mesosoma .
  • Heterometrus (Chersonesometrus) phipsoni phipsoni Couzijn , 1981 (partially): HWC Couzijn described the subgenus Chersonesometrus in 1981 , in which he also placed Heterometrus phipsoni . 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 .
  • Heterometrus (Chersonesometrus) collinus Couzijn , 1981 : Couzijn gave species status to the subspecies Heterometrus phipsoni collinus described by Pocock in 1900 .

Couzijn declared the species Heterometrus barberi to be a synonym for Heterometrus (Chersonesometrus) phipsoni phipsoni in 1981 . In addition, he made Heterometrus kanarensis synonymous with Heterometrus (Chersonesometrus) phipsoni kanaraensis. Two years later, BK Tikader and Deshbhushan B. Bastawade corrected that Heterometrus barberi and Heterometrus kanarensis are separate species.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 34.
  2. ^ František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 29.
  3. ^ František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 52.
  4. 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 PDFhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Ffaunaofindia.nic.in%2FPDFVolumes%2Frecords%2F103%2F01-02%2F0043-0058.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D% 0A ~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3DOnline% 20PDF ~ PUR% 3D , 620 kB.
  5. ^ A b c Zeeshan A. Mirza and Rajesh Sanap: Notes on the reproductive biology of Heterometrus phipsoni, p. 488.
  6. ^ Zeeshan A. Mirza and Rajesh Sanap: Notes on the reproductive biology of Heterometrus phipsoni, p. 490.
  7. Satish Pande et al .: Diversity of scorpion fauna of Saswad-Jejuri, Pune District, Maharashtra, western India. In: Journal of Threatened Taxa 2012, Volume 4, No. 2, pp. 2381-2389, here p. 2383 and p. 2387, doi : 10.11609 / JoTT.o2910.2381-9 .
  8. ^ A b Reginald Innes Pocock: Report upon a small collection of scorpions sent to the British Museum, p. 307.
  9. ^ Reginald Innes Pocock: Report upon a small collection of scorpions sent to the British Museum, p. 309.
  10. Gérard Dupré: Dictionary of scientific scorpion names. In: Arachnides. Bulletin de Terrariophile et de Recherche 2016, Supplement to No. 78, p. 49, Online PDFhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.ntnu.no%2Fub%2Fscorpion-files%2Fdupre_2016_dictionary.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3DOnline% 20PDF ~ PUR% 3D , 560 kB.
  11. a b c Reginald Innes Pocock: Arachnida. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Taylor & Francis, London 1900, pp. 94-95, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Darachnida00poco~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3Dn110~ double-sided%3Dja~LT%3D~PUR%3D .
  12. ^ Ferdinand Karsch: Scorpionological contributions. I. In: Mitteilungen des Münchener Entomologische Verein 1879, Volume 3, No. 1, pp. 6–22, here p. 20, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dmittheilungendes35187981mn~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3Dn36~ double-sided%3Dja~LT%3D~PUR%3D .
  13. František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 2.
  14. ^ A b H. WC Couzijn: Revision of the genus Heterometrus, pp. 149–151.
  15. HWC Couzijn: Revision of the genus Heterometrus, pp. 155–157.
  16. ^ HWC Couzijn: Revision of the genus Heterometrus, pp. 151–153.
  17. ^ František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 4.
  18. František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 20.
  19. BK Tikader and DB Bastawade: Scorpions (Scorpionida: Arachnida). The Fauna of India, Vol. 3. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta 1983, pp. 614-619, 636-641, Online PDFhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Ffaunaofindia.nic.in%2FPDFVolumes%2Ffi%2F052%2Findex.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3DOnline% 20PDF ~ PUR% 3D , 30 MB.