Opistophthalmus coetzeei
| Opistophthalmus coetzeei | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Opistophthalmus coetzeei | ||||||||||||
| Lamoral , 1979 |
Opistophthalmus coetzeei is in Namibia endemic occurring Scorpio from the family Scorpionidae .
features
Opistophthalmus coetzeei is a small to medium-sized scorpion about 60 to 65 millimeters in length. It has a yellow-brown color in different tones, the legs and the telson are yellow-orange, the poison sting is clearly darker. The tergites are yellow-brown, with yellow-orange lateral and rear margins. The genital perculum and the comb organs are pale yellow-orange. The chelicerae are black, the chelae have a black network pattern.
The median pair of ocelles is only slightly behind the center of the carapace, the length of the carapace is about 1.90 times the distance between the ocelles and the front edge. The comb organs have 17 to 21 teeth in male scorpions and 12 to 14 teeth in female. The telson is hairy and has a short and only slightly curved poison sting.
The surface of the carapace is heavily granulated. In female scorpions, the granulation in the area of the median pair of ocelles is only weakly pronounced. The telson is heavily granulated laterally and ventrally. The upper and outer sides of the chelae, tibiae and femora of the pedipalps have a pronounced grainy surface. The insides of the chelae and the segments of the metasoma are only weakly granulated.
Male scorpions are a little lighter in color and only slightly smaller than female, but they have a smaller mesosoma and a longer metasoma. The metasoma in males is about a third longer than the mesosoma and carapace, in females the length is about the same. The narrower and longer chelae of the male scorpion contribute to an overall slimmer appearance. The genital perculum of male scorpions is oval, that of the female approximately heart-shaped.
There is a close relationship to the species Opistophthalmus opinatus and the distribution areas of both species overlap. Opistophthalmus coetzeei remains significantly smaller and shows numerous spindle-shaped granules laterally behind the telson, which are absent in Opistophthalmus opinatus . The hemispermatophores of both types differ significantly.
distribution and habitat
The Terra typica of Opistophthalmus coetzeei is located on Bloedkoppie ( 22 ° 51 '0 " S , 15 ° 22' 48" O ). The distribution area includes the center and the mid-west of Namibia, with the regions Erongo , Hardap and Khomas .
Way of life
Opistophthalmus coetzeei is a nocturnal and pelophilic species that digs shallow living tubes at depths of 10 to 15 centimeters in rather soft soils. Their entrances are mostly on the side under larger stones and less often open in the landscape. Opistophthalmus coetzeei prefers softer soils than Opistophthalmus opinatus , with which it occurs sympatricly in part of its distribution area .
Systematics
Initial description
The first description of Opistophthalmus coetzeei was made in 1979 by the South African arachnologists Bruno H. Lamoral in an extensive monograph of scorpions Namibia, published in the Annals of the Natal Museum (now the African Invertebrates ).
Type material
The type material consists of a male adult holotype and several male and two female paratypes. The holotype and six paratypes of both sexes are in the collection of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg . Two male and one female paratype are in the collection of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History in Pretoria.
etymology
The species name coetzeei honors the South African mammalogen Cornelius G. Coetzee , director of the State Museum in Windhoek at the time of the first description .
literature
- Bruno H. Lamoral: The scorpions of Namibia (Arachnida: Scorpionida) . In: Annals of the Natal Museum 1979, Volume 23, No. 3, pp. 497-784, here pp. 694-698, ISSN 0304-0798 , online .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Bruno H. Lamoral: The scorpions of Namibia (Arachnida: Scorpionida) , p. 695.
- ↑ a b c d Bruno H. Lamoral: The scorpions of Namibia (Arachnida: Scorpionida) , p. 696.
- ↑ a b c d Bruno H. Lamoral: The scorpions of Namibia (Arachnida: Scorpionida) , p. 698.
- ↑ a b c Bruno H. Lamoral: The scorpions of Namibia (Arachnida: Scorpionida) , p. 694.
- ↑ Gérard Dupré: Dictionary of scientific scorpion names. In: Arachnides. Bulletin de Terrariophilie et de Recherche 2016, Supplément au n ° 78, p. 17, online PDF , 560 kB.
- ^ Klaus Dierks: Biographies of Namibian Personalities. C , accessed January 16, 2018.