18 November, 2020

Systematic revision of the Asian Forest Scorpions (Heterometrinae simon, 1879) with many taxonomical changes in the family Scorpionidae

 


As I posted in a previous blog post, Lorenzo Prendini and Stephanie Loria published a huge systematic revision of the Asian Forest Scorpions (Heterometrinae Simon, 1879) in October. This revision is mainly focused on the genus Heterometrus Ehrenberg, 1828  which is split into several new genera, but has also taxonomical decisions for other taxa in Scorpionidae.

Here are some of the main higlights from this impressive work.

Rugodentidae Bastawade et al., 2005 is raised to family status (from subfamily status) including the genus Rugodentus Bastawade et al., 2005.



Pandinopsis Vachon, 1974. Raised to genus status.



Pandipalpus Rossi, 2015. Raised to family status.


Chersonesometrus Couzijn, 1978. Raised to genus status.

Chersonesometrus bastawadei
Prendini & Loria, 2020. New species from India.

Chersonesometrus hendersoni
Prendini & Loria, 2020. New species from India.

Chersonesometrus nathanorum Prendini & Loria, 2020. New species from India.

Chersonesometrus shivashankari Prendini & Loria, 2020. New species from India.



Deccanometrus Prendini & Loria, 2020. New genus.

Deccanometrus obscurus
(Couzijn, 1981). Raised to species status.


Gigantometrus Couzijn, 1978. Raised to genus status.



Javanimetrus Couzijn, 1981. Raised to genus status.



Sahyadrimetrus Prendini & Loria, 2020. New genus.

Sahyadrimetrus mathewi Prendini & Loria, 2020. New species from India.

Sahyadrimetrus rugosus (Couzijn, 1981). Raised to species status.

Sahyadrimetrus tikaderi Prendini & Loria, 2020. New species from India.



Srilankametrus Couzijn, 1981. Raised to genus status.

Srilankametrus couzijni
Prendini & Loria, 2020. New species from India.

Srilankametrus pococki Prendini & Loria, 2020. New species from Sri Lanka.

There are also several new combinations (species transferred from Heterometrus to one of the new genera) and synonymizations for many species in this article. I will refer to the abstract and appendix 4 (p. 479) in the article for a list of these as it will be too extensive  to list all of these here. Also check out the Scorpionidae family page to see the alle the new taxa and their content.

The article has several identification key for the relevant taxa in Scorpionidae.

Abstract:
[Due to lack of time I have omitted italics for species and genus names as this had to be done manually]
The genera and species of the Asian forest scorpions (Scorpionidae Latreille, 1802) are revised  based on a phylogenetic analysis of 186 morphological characters and 4188 base pairs of concatenated DNA sequence from three mitochondrial loci and two nuclear loci. Revision of the Asian  scorpionids required a critical reappraisal of the suprageneric classification of Scorpionidae, on  the basis of which the monotypic Indian scorpionoid genus, Rugodentus Bastawade et al., 2005, stat.  rev., and its type species, Rugodentus keralaensis Bastawade et al., 2005, stat. rev., are  revalidated, and subfamily Rugodentinae Bastawade et al., 2005, revalidated and elevated to the  rank of fam- ily, Rugodentidae Bastawade et al., 2005, stat. nov. et stat. rev.; Heterometrinae  Simon, 1879, stat. nov., and Opistophthalminae Rossi, 2016, stat. nov., are elevated to the rank of  subfamily; Pandi­ nopsis Vachon, 1974, stat. nov., and Pandipalpus Rossi, 2015, stat. nov., are  elevated to the rank of genus, resulting in two new combinations: Pandinopsis dictator (Pocock,  1888), comb. nov., and Pandipalpus viatoris (Pocock, 1890), comb. nov.; and 10 new synonyms are  presented: Pandinopsini Rossi, 2016 = Pandininae Thorell, 1876, syn. nov.; Protophthalmini Rossi,  2016 = Opistoph- thalminae Rossi, 2016, syn. nov.; Protophthalmus Lawrence, 1969 = Opistophthalmus  C.L. Koch, 1837, syn. nov.; Pandinoides (Dunlopandinoides) Rossi, 2016 = Pandinoides Fet, 2000,  syn. nov.; Pandinurus (Pandicaporiaccous) Rossi, 2015 = Pandiborellius Rossi, 2015, syn. nov.;  Buthus defensor C.L. Koch, 1837 = Pandinurus gregoryi (Pocock, 1896), syn. nov.; Buthus heros C.L. Koch, 1837 = Pandinurus exitialis (Pocock, 1888), syn. nov.; Pandinus lowei Kovařík, 2012 = Pandipalpus viatoris  (Pocock, 1890), syn. nov.; Pandinurus (Pandipalpus) pygmaeus Rossi, 2015 = Pandipalpus viatoris  (Pocock, 1890), syn. nov.; Pandinus intermedius Borelli, 1919 = Pandinurus citernii (Borelli,  1919), syn. nov. The following revisions are implemented to the classification of the Asian forest scorpions (Heterometrinae). Three former subgenera of Heterometrus Ehrenberg, 1828 are revalidated  and elevated to the rank of genus: Chersonesometrus Couzijn, 1978, stat. nov. et stat. rev.;  Javanimetrus Couzijn, 1981, stat. nov. et stat. rev.; and Srilankametrus Couzijn, 1981, stat. nov.  et stat. rev. One subgenus is elevated to the rank of genus: Gigantometrus Couzijn, 1978, stat.  nov. Two new genera and eight new species are described: Deccanometrus, gen. nov.; Sahyadrimetrus,  gen. nov.; Cher­ sonesometrus bastawadei, sp. nov.; Chersonesometrus hendersoni, sp. nov.;  Chersonesometrus natha­ norum, sp. nov.; Chersonesometrus shivashankari, sp. nov.; Sahyadrimetrus mathewi, gen. et sp. nov.; Sahyadrimetrus tikaderi, gen. et sp. nov.; Srilankametrus couzijni, sp.  nov.; Srilankametrus pococki, sp. nov. Heterometrus sensu stricto is restricted to eight species of  the nominotypical subgenus, all other species, formerly placed in Heterometrus, are transferred to  appropriate genera, five species are revalidated, and two subspecies elevated to the rank of  species, resulting in 28 new combinations: Chersonesometrus beccaloniae (Kovařík, 2004), comb.  nov.; Chersonesometrus fulvipes (C.L. Koch, 1837), comb. nov.; Chersonesometrus madraspatensis  (Pocock, 1900), comb. nov.; Chersonesometrus pelekomanus (Couzijn, 1981), comb. nov. et stat. rev.;  Chersonesometrus tristis (Henderson, 1919), comb. nov.; Chersonesometrus wroughtoni (Pocock, 1899),  comb. nov.; Deccanometrus bengalensis (C.L. Koch, 1841), comb. nov.; Deccanometrus latimanus  (Pocock, 1894), comb. nov.; Deccanometrus liurus (Pocock, 1897), comb. nov.; Deccanometrus obscurus  (Couzijn, 1981), comb. et stat. nov.; Dec­ canometrus phipsoni (Pocock, 1893), comb. nov.;  Deccanometrus ubicki (Kovařík, 2004), comb. nov.; Deccanometrus xanthopus (Pocock, 1897), comb.  nov.; Gigantometrus swammerdami (Simon, 1872), comb. nov.; Gigantometrus titanicus (Couzijn, 1981),  comb. nov. et stat. rev.; Heterometrus glaucus (Thorell, 1876), comb. nov. et stat. rev.;  Heterometrus laevigatus (Thorell, 1876), comb. nov. et stat. rev.; Heterometrus silenus (Simon,  1884), comb. nov. et stat. rev.; Javanimetrus cyaneus (C.L. Koch, 1836), comb. nov.; Sahyadrimetrus  barberi (Pocock, 1900), comb. nov.; Sahyadrimetrus kanarensis (Pocock, 1900), comb. nov.;  Sahyadrimetrus rugosus (Couzijn, 1981), comb. et stat. nov.; Sahyadrime­ trus scaber (Thorell,  1876), comb. nov.; Srilankametrus caesar (C.L. Koch, 1841), comb. nov. et stat. rev.;  Srilankametrus gravimanus (Pocock, 1894), comb. nov.; Srilankametrus indus (DeGeer, 1778), comb. nov.; Srilankametrus serratus (Pocock, 1900), comb. nov; Srilankametrus yaleensis (Kovařík et al., 2019), comb. nov. Twenty-seven new synonyms are presented: Scorpio leioderma Dufour, 856 = Sahyadrimetrus scaber (Thorell, 1876), syn. nov.; Palamnaeus costimanus var. β borneensis Thorell, 1876 = Heterometrus longimanus (Herbst, 1800), syn. nov.; Palamnaeus liophysa Thorell, 1888 = Heterometrus longimanus (Herbst, 1800), syn. nov.; Palamnaeus oatesii Pocock, 1900 = Heterometrus petersii (Thorell, 1876), syn. nov.; Palamnaeus swammerdami flavimanus Pocock, 1900 = Gigantometrus swammerdami (Simon, 1872), syn. nov.; Heterometrus liophysa var. madoerensis Kopstein, 1921 = Heterometrus glaucus (Thorell, 1876), syn. nov.; Heterometrus laevifrons Roewer, 1943 = Heterometrus glaucus (Thorell, 1876), syn. nov.; Heterometrus (Chersonesometrus) granulomanus Couzijn, 1981 = Srilankametrus caesar (C.L. Koch, 1841), syn. nov.; Heterometrus (Heterometrus) liophysa separatus Couzijn, 1981 = Heterometrus glaucus (Thorell, 1876), syn. nov.; Heterometrus (Heterometrus) liophysa spartanicus Couzijn, 1981 = Heterometrus glaucus (Thorell, 1876), syn. nov.; Heterometrus (Heterometrus) longimanus bengkalitensis Couzijn, 1981 = Heterometrus longimanus (Herbst, 1800), syn. nov.; Heterometrus (Heterometrus) longimanus marmoratus Couzijn, 1981 = Heterometrus longimanus (Herbst, 1800), syn. nov.; Heterometrus (Heterometrus) petersii mindanaensis Couzijn, 1981 = Heterometrus silenus (Simon, 1884), syn. nov.; Heterometrus (Heterometrus) spinifer solitarius Couzijn, 1981 = Heterometrus spinifer (Ehrenberg, 1828), syn. nov.; Heterometrus (Srilankametrus) indus laevitensus Couzijn, 1981 = Srilankametrus indus (DeGeer, 1778), syn. nov.; Heterometrus (Heterometrus) keralaensis Tikader and Bastawade, 1983 = Sahyadrimetrus rugosus (Couzijn, 1981), syn. nov.; Heterometrus cimrmani Kovařík, 2004 = Heterometrus laevigatus (Thorell, 1876), syn. nov.; Heterometrus mysorensis Kovařík, 2004 = Chersonesometrus tristis (Henderson, 1919), syn. nov.; Heterometrus nepalensis Kovařík, 2004 = Deccanometrus bengalensis (Pocock, 1900), syn. nov.; Heterometrus rolciki Kovařík, 2004 = Sahyadrimetrus scaber (Thorell, 1876), syn. nov.; Heterometrus sejnai Kovařík, 2004 = Javanimetrus cyaneus (C.L. Koch, 1836), syn. nov.; Heterometrus tibetanus Lourenço et al., 2005 = Deccanometrus bengalensis (Pocock, 1900), syn. nov.; Heterometrus liangi Zhu and Yang, 2007 = Heterometrus silenus (Simon, 1884), syn. nov.; Heterometrus telanganaensis Javed et al., 2010 = Deccanometrus xanthopus (Pocock, 1897), syn. nov.; Heterometrus atrascorpius Mirza et al., 2012 = Chersonesometrus beccaloniae (Kovařík, 2004), syn. nov.; Heterometrus minotaurus Plíšková et al., 2016 = Heterometrus laevigatus (Thorell, 1876), syn. nov.; Heterometrus bastawadei Rossi, 2016 = Rugodentus keralaensis Bastawade et al., 2005, syn. nov. Another 25 synonyms by previous authors are confirmed, for a total of 51 synonyms in subfamily Heterometrinae. Revised diagnoses with comparative images, and a key and distributional atlas of the genera and species are provided, along with a summary of available data for their ecology and conservation status, where applicable.

Reference:
Prendini L, Loria SF. Systematic revision of the Asian Forest Scorpions (Heterometrinae simon, 1879), revised suprageneric classification of Scorpionidae latreille, 1802, and revalidation of Rugodentidae Bastawade et al., 2005. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 2020(442):1-480. [Open Access]

Thanks to Gerard Dupre for sending me this article.

Family Scorpionidae

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