Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900)

Kovařík, František & Fet, Victor, 2006, Taxonomic position of the genus Sassanidotus Farzanpay, 1987 (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Euscorpius 39 (38), pp. 1-9 : 4-7

Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900) , stat. n.

( Figs. 2 , 6–9 , Table 1 )

Buthus zarudnyi gracilis Birula, 1900b: 368 .

= Buthus zarudnyi sarghadensis Birula, 1903: 70–71 , syn. n.

Buthus (Buthus) zarudnyi sarghadensis: Birula, 1917: 240 .

Mesobuthus zarudnyi gracilis: Vachon, 1958: 141 ; Vachon, 1966: 213; Habibi, 1971: 44; Pérez, 1974: 25; Farzanpay, 1988: 39; Kovařík, 1997: 49; Kovařík, 1998: 115.

Mesobuthus zarudnyi sarghadensis: Vachon, 1958: 141 ; Vachon, 1966: 213; Habibi, 1971: 44; Pérez, 1974: 26; Farzanpay, 1988: 39; Kovařík, 1997: 49; Kovařík, 1998: 115.

Sassanidothus zarudnyi gracilis: Fet & Lowe, 2000: 223 .

Sassanidothus zarudnyi sarghadensis: Fet & Lowe, 2000: 223 .

Type locality and type repository. Nasirabad , Seistan, eastern Persia, now Iran ; ZISP.

Type material examined. Iran, Nasirabad , Seistan , eastern Persia , 1♀ (holotype) ( Figs. 6 and 7 ), coll. N. A. Zarudny, ZISP No. 598; between Djuan-kan and Mirkala (Kala-i-mir), Mashkil and Djalak , Baluchistan , eastern Persia, 26–29 January 1901, 1♀ 1juv. (lectotype and paralectotype of Buthus zarudnyi sarghadensis ) ( Figs. 8 and 9 ), coll. N. A. Zarudny, ZISP No. 1356; between Mirkuh and Rik-i-malik, Sargad, Baluchistan, eastern Persia, 14–19 January 1901, 2♀ 4juvs. (paralectotypes of Buthus zarudnyi sarghadensis ), coll. N. A. Zarudny, ZISP No. 1355 .

Other material examined. Pakistan, southern Baluchistan, 1♂, April 1993, coll. S. Bečvář, FKCP .

Diagnosis: Total length 32–52 mm. Male with manus of pedipalp much wider and fingers slightly flexed proximally. Movable fingers bear 11 rows of granules, of which first eight rows lack external granules and last three rows may have external granules. Internal granules present. Trichobothrium db situated between trichobothria est and esb ( Fig. 2 ). Metasomal segments II to IV with eight carinae. Intermediate carinae of metasomal segment II are replaced by granules which may form incomplete carinae; metasomal segment III bears less posteriorly situated granules, which may reach mid-length of segment; metasomal segment IV bears only one posteriorly situated granule. Tarsomere I of legs I to III with bristlecombs. Pectinal teeth number 15– 17 in females and 18–19 in males. Telson of adults bulbous.

Distribution. Afghanistan (south; Vachon, 1958: 144), Iran (Birula, 1900b: 368), Pakistan (first record).

Comments: Our investigation demonstrated no diagnostic differences between the holotype of Buthus gracilis Birula, 1900 and type series of Buthus zarudnyi sarghadensis Birula, 1903 . The holotype specimen of Buthus zarudnyi sarghadensis Birula, 1903 was not designated in the original publication, or in any subsequent literature, although Fet & Lowe (2000: 223) quoted ZISP 1356 female as a holotype. The confusion was caused by the label designations of Birula, where ZISP 1356 female is labeled “tip” in Russian (“type”) but this designation has not been originally published. Following Articles 69 and 74 of the Code (ICZN, 1999), we designate ZISP 1356 female as a lectotype, and all other type specimens become paralectotypes.

Fet & Lowe (2000: 223) quoted “Mashkim, between Dzhuolk-Kan and Mirkala ”, which was an erroneous transliteration from the Russian text of the label ( Fig. 9 ). Birula (1903: 70) listed type locality (in German transliteration) as “prov. Maschkil und Djalak auf dem Wege zwischen der Oertlichkeit Djuan-kan und dem Dorfe Mir-kala (=Kala-i-Mir)”. “Mashkil” corresponds to the modern Mashkel, a river in Seistan and Baluchistan Province ( Ostan-e Sistan va Baluchestan) of Iran, at the country’s southeastern border with Baluchistan Province of Pakistan. Djalak is modern Djalq or Jalq (27.60º N, 62.70 º E), 270 km SE of Zahedan, where N. A. Zarudny’s expedition arrived by the end of January, 1901 (Zarudny, 1916; see also Fet, 1997) .

Farzanpay (1988: 40) erroneously quoted Sassanidothus zarudnyi sarghadensis as a synonym of Razianus zarudnyi (Birula, 1903) , which belongs to a completely different, valid genus (Fet & Lowe, 2000). The convoluted history of these confused names can be summarized as follows. The confusion started when Birula described two completely different species from Iran, both named after N. A. Zarudny who collected the types: Buthus zarudnyi Birula, 1900 (now Sassanidotus zarudnyi ) and Hemibuthus zarudnyi Birula, 1903 (now Razianus zarudnyi ). Later, Birula (1905) transferred Hemibuthus zarudnyi to the genus Buthus , and to avoid homonymy had to introduce a substitute name, Buthus zarudnianus Birula, 1905 . Farzanpay (1988: 40) writes that “Vachon considered for a time Buthus zarudnianus Birula, 1905 as a synonym of Mesobuthus zarudnyi (personal communication)” but this testimony is doubtful and appears only to propagate the confusion. Birula’s descriptions of two species are very clearly different. Farzanpay (1988: 40) mentioned the new genus Razianus “to be described by Vachon & Farzanpay” based on Hemibuthus zarudnyi Birula, 1903 . Later, new genus Neohemibuthus and species, Neohemibuthus kinzelbachi , were described by Lourenço (1996). Fet (1997) analyzed the type material and synonymized Neohemibuthus kinzelbachi with Buthus zarudnianus Birula, 1905 , therefore restoring the original specific epithet in combination Neohemibuthus zarudnyi (Birula, 1903) . Finally, Lowe & Fet (2000) discovered that the name Razianus —just like Sassanidotus — was available under Farzanpay’s authorship since 1987. Therefore the correct name of the species in question is Razianus zarudnyi (Birula, 1903) (= Buthus zarudnianus Birula, 1905 , = Neohemibuthus kinzelbachi Lourenço, 1996 ) (Lowe & Fet, 2000).

Figures

Figure 6: Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900), female holotype, dorsal aspect.

Figure 7: Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900), female holotype, ventral aspect.

Figure 8: Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900), female lectotype of Buthus zarudnyi sarghadensis Birula, 1903, dorsal aspect.

Figure 9: Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900), female lectotype of Buthus zarudnyi sarghadensis Birula, 1903, label.

Figures 1–2: Chela of pedipalp showing external trichobothria. 1. Sassanidotus zarudnyi (Birula, 1900), male neotype. 2. Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900), female holotype.