Heterometrus swammerdami
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Heterometrus swammerdami |
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| Heterometrus swammerdami | ||||||||||||
| Simon , 1872 |
Heterometrus swammerdami is a scorpion of the family Scorpionidae widespreadin India and Sri Lanka .
description
Heterometrus swammerdami is a 128 to 176 millimeter long scorpion. Adult animals have a reddish-brown to reddish-black basic color, juvenile specimens can be red with a yellow telson . The chelae are distinctly lobed, with a length to width ratio of about 1.6 to 1.8 to 1. Their upper side is covered with large round granules that do not form keels. The limbs of the pedipalps show no sexual dimorphism . The carapace has a smooth and shiny surface in the middle, the edges are covered with granules. Only occasionally do sparsely distributed granules appear in the middle of the carapace. The fifth segment of the metasoma is longer and the fourth about as long as the femora of the pedipalps. The combs of the comb organ have 16 to 20 teeth in both sexes. The telson is spherical, with a poisonous bladder at least as long as the poison sting .
Heterometrus swammerdami is often referred to in popular or unscientific literature as the largest scorpion in the world , or given similar attributes. In fact, with a body length of up to 176 millimeters , Heterometrus swammerdami is one of the largest species of scorpion. Other species of the Scorpionidae family grow very large , such as Pandinus imperator with a length of 180 to 200 millimeters and Opistophthalmus gigas with a length of up to 160 millimeters. Much larger information is based on the fact that the measurement did not take the usual measurements from the front edge of the carapace to the end of the telson, but rather included the pedipalps up to the tip of the chelae. For scientific publications today the lengths of the individual body parts are measured separately and added up to determine the body length. This also happens because of the inaccuracies in measurements over the whole body, which are significantly influenced by the nutritional status of the animal. Starved scorpions are shorter because the edges of the body segments overlap. The same Scorpio can be significantly longer after a substantial meal, because the individual body segments are now clearly separated from one another.
distribution and habitat
As Terra typica of Heterometrus swammerdami , l'Hindoustan, particulièrement à Pondichéry was given in the first description . Hindoustan in this context meant the entire Indian subcontinent, Pondichéry was the capital of French India .
Heterometrus swammerdami is widespread in India and Sri Lanka and is common in places. Evidence is available for the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh , Karnataka , Madhya Pradesh , Maharashtra , Mysore , Orissa , Tamil Nadu , Uttar Pradesh , West Bengal and the Union Territory of Puducherry . Finds from the center and west of the island and from the Jaffna peninsula have been reported in Sri Lanka .
Way of life
Heterometrus swammerdami is a burrowing species that inhabits long tubes. It lives in areas with undergrowth, where it is often under leaves or in crevices. Occasionally he was found in termite burrows. In cultivated landscapes it is often found in gardens, where it looks for shelter under garden waste.
Parasites
Heterometrus swammerdami is the only known host of Scorpionyssus heterometrus , a predatory mite from the Laelapidae family . The mite was described in 1988 by the parasitologist Alex Fain from the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences in Brussels and Gisela Rack from the arachnological collection of the Zoological Museum Hamburg . They had two infested scorpions from a rubber plantation in Sri Lanka with a total of around 200 mites in all stages of development.
Systematics
Initial description
The first description was made by Eugène Simon in 1894 after two adult female specimens with the indication of origin East Indies .
Type material
The specimens that Simon examined for his first description were two female scorpions. The holotype is damaged and is together with the paratype in the collection of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. The holotype used by Thorell in 1876 for his description of "Pandinus asper" , probably a male specimen of unknown origin, is in the collection of the Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museum . In 1879 Karsch described "Pandinus kochii" . Its two syntypes, with the incorrect indication of the location Java , are in the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. In 1885 Simon described "Scorpio lucidipes" after a female scorpion from Ramanathapuram in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu . This holotype was determined by Couzijn to be the allotype of Heterometrus swammerdami in 1981 . It is located in the Paris Muséum national d'histoire naturelle.
etymology
The first description does not contain any information about the etymology of the species name. The name was given in honor of the Dutch naturalist Jan Swammerdam , who carried out anatomical studies on scorpions as early as the 17th century.
Synonyms (chronological)
Heterometrus swammerdami was known to arachnologists of the 19th century long before it was first described, but was always confused with other species already described. The German arachnologist Carl Ludwig Koch published descriptions of long-known scorpions in his great work The Arachniden , and in 1836 and 1841 added drawings of Heterometrus swammerdami , which he had incorrectly identified as Buthus afer and Buthus ceylonicus .
- Pandinus asper Thorell , 1876 : Tamerlan Thorell described the species in 1876 after a probably male specimen without any indication of origin and synonymized the species itself in 1893 with Heterometrus swammerdami .
- Pandinus kochii Karsch , 1879 : the species was described by Ferdinand Karsch in 1879 after two scorpions with the wrong indication of origin Java . This species was also declared a synonym for Heterometrus swammerdami by Thorell in 1879 .
- Scorpio lucidipes Simon , 1885 : Eugène Simon described this species after a specimen from Ramanathapuram in what is now the Indian state of Tamil Nadu . It was synonymous with Heterometrus swammerdami in 1890 by Reginald Innes Pocock .
- Scorpio swammerdami Simon , 1885 : the name was used by Simon himself in the first description of his Scorpio lucidipes and by several other authors in the late 19th century. Later authors stopped using this name.
- Palamnaeus swammerdami 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 Karsch in 1879 .
- Heterometrus (Gigantometrus) swammerdami swammerdami Couzijn , 1981 : HWC Couzijn described some sub-genera in his revision of the genus Heterometrus in 1981 . The subgenus Gigantometrus and all other subgenera of Heterometrus described by Couzijn were repealed in 2004 by František Kovařík in his revision of the genus Heterometrus .
- Heterometrus (Gigantometrus) swammerdami titanicus Couzijn , 1981 : this subspecies was described by Couzijn in 1981. It was synonymous in 2004 by Kovařík with Heterometrus swammerdami .
The subspecies Heterometrus swammerdami flavimanus described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1900 was raised to the species Heterometrus flavimanus in 1983 by the Indian arachnologists BK Tikader and DB Bastawade .
literature
- HWC Couzijn: Revision of the genus Heterometrus. In: Zoologische Verhandelingen 1981, Volume 184, No. 1, pp. 1–196 (also dissertation, University of Leiden 1981), online PDF , 18.6 MB.
- 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.
Individual evidence
- ^ František Kovařík et al .: Scorpions of Sri Lanka, p. 113.
- ↑ W. David Sissom: Systematics, biogeography, and paleontology. In: Gary A. Polis (Ed.): The biology of scorpions. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1990, pp. 64-160, ISBN 0-8047-1249-2 .
- ↑ W. David Sissom, Gary A. Polis and Dean D. Watt: Field and Laboratory Methods. In: Gary A. Polis (Ed.): The biology of scorpions. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1990, pp. 445-461, ISBN 0-8047-1249-2 .
- ^ A b Eugène Simon: Études sur les Scorpions. Revision of the Heterometrus du groupe de l´H. afer, L., part I. In: Revue et Magasin de Zoologie Pure et Appliquée 1871–1872, Volume 23, No. 2, pp. 51–59, here pp. 56–59, digitized .
- ↑ a b František Kovařík et al .: Scorpions of Sri Lanka, p. 111.
- ↑ a b c František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 42.
- ^ František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, p. 44.
- ↑ a b K. Veronika: Diversity and Identification Key to the Species of Scorpions (Scorpiones: Arachnida) from Jaffna Peninsula, Sri Lanka. In: Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2013, Volume 1, No. 5, pp. 70–77, here p. 76, online PDF , 3.5 MB.
- ^ František Kovařík et al .: Scorpions of Sri Lanka, p. 120.
- ^ František Kovařík et al .: Scorpions of Sri Lanka, p. 122.
- ↑ Alex Fain and Gisela Rack: Scorpionyssus heterometrus gen. N., Sp. n. (Acari, Laelapidae) parasitic on a scorpion from Sri Lanka . In: Entomologische Mitteilungen from the Zoological Museum Hamburg 1988, Volume 9, No. 132, pp. 99-108, online PDF , 344 kB.
- ^ A b Victor Fet: Family SCORPIONIDAE Latreille, 1802. In: Victor Fet et al .: Catalog of the scorpions of the world (1758-1998). The New York Entomological Society, New York 2000, pp. 427-486, here pp. 443-444, download links .
- ↑ a b H. WC Couzijn: Revision of the genus Heterometrus, pp. 162-163.
- ↑ Gérard Dupré: Dictionary of scientific scorpion names. In: Arachnides. Bulletin de Terrariophile et de Recherche 2016, Supplement to No. 78, p. 58, Online PDF , 560 kB.
- ^ A b Carl Ludwig Koch: The arachnids. Third volume. CH Zeh´sche Buchhandlung, Nuremberg 1836–1837, digitized .
- ↑ Carl Ludwig Koch: The arachnids. Ninth volume. CH Zeh´sche Buchhandlung, Nuremberg 1841–1842, digitized .
- ↑ Tamerlan Thorell : Études Scorpiologiques. In: Atti della Societá Italiana di Scienze Naturali 1876, Volume 19, pp. 75–272, here pp. 199–202, digitized .
- ↑ a b Tamerlan Thorell: Scorpiones exotici R. Musei Historiae Naturalis Fiorentini . In: Bollettino della Societa Entomologica Italiana 1893, Volume 25, pp. 356-387, here p. 379, digitized .
- ^ Ferdinand Karsch: Scorpionological contributions. II. In: Mitteilungen des Münchener Entomologische Verein 1879, Volume 3, No. 2, pp. 97-136, here p. 127, digitized .
- ^ A b Eugène Simon: Matériaux pour servir à la faune arachnologique de l'Asie méridionale. I. Arachnides recueillis à Wagra-Karoor près Gundacul, district de Bellary par MM Chaper . In: Bulletin de la Société Zoologique Française 1885, Volume 10, pp. 1–39, here pp. 38–39, digitized .
- ^ Reginald Innes Pocock: Report upon a small collection of scorpions and centipedes sent from Madras by Mr. Edgar Thurston, of the Government Central Museum . In: Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1890, Series 6, Volume 5, pp. 236–250, here pp. 237–241, digitized .
- ^ Reginald Innes Pocock: Arachnida. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Taylor & Francis, London 1900, p. 86, digitized .
- ^ Ferdinand Karsch: Scorpionological contributions. I. In: Mitteilungen des Münchener Entomologische Verein 1879, Volume 3, No. 1, pp. 6–22, here p. 20, digitized .
- ^ HWC Couzijn: Revision of the genus Heterometrus, pp. 159-161.
- ↑ František Kovařík: A review of the genus Heterometrus, pp. 2-4.
- ↑ HWC Couzijn: Revision of the genus Heterometrus, pp. 165-167.
- ↑ HWC Couzijn: Revision of the genus Heterometrus, pp. 164-165.
- ↑ BK Tikader and DB Bastawade: Scorpions (Scorpionida: Arachnida). The Fauna of India, Vol. 3. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta 1983, pp. 568-573, Online PDF , 30 MB.