Orthochirus olivaceus ( Karsch, 1881 )

Kovařík, František, Fet, Victor & Siyam, Manal, 2020, Тaxonomic position of Orthochirus olivaceus (Karsch, 1881), the type species of the genus Orthochirus Karsch, 1892 (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Euscorpius 319, pp. 1-15 : 3-13

Orthochirus olivaceus ( Karsch, 1881)

( Figures 1–41 , Table 1 )

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SYNONYMS:

Butheolus aristidis Simon, 1882: 258–259 , pl. VIII, fig. 23. Syn. n.

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REFERENCES:

Orthodactylus olivaceus Karsch, 1881: 90–91 ; Moritz & Fischer, 1980: 321; Francke, 2019: 22.

Orthodactylus schneideri: Karsch, 1886: 76 .

Orthochirus aristidis: Birula, 1898: 282–283 ; Simon, 1910: 78, fig. 12; Birula, 1928: 83 (in part); Vachon, 1949: 139 (1952: 224); Vachon, 1959: 166; Lamoral & Reynders, 1975: 514 (in part); Levy & Amitai, 1980: 94; Fet & Lowe, 2000: 194 (complete reference list until 1998); KovařÍk, 2004: 27; Kaltsas et al., 2008: 220; Lourenço & Leguin, 2011: 1–3 (in part), figs. 1–2;? Badry et al., 2017: 6, fig. S3a (very probably misidentification); Dunlop et al., 2018: 451.

Butheolus aristidis :? Kraepelin, 1903: 563.

Orthochirus olivaceus: Vachon, 1959: 166 .

Orthochirus scrobiculosus: Fet & Lowe, 2000: 193 (in part).

Orthochirus sp.: KovařÍk et al., 2020: 3 .

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE DEPOSITORY. “Sicily” [incorrect type locality]; ZMHB .

TYPE MATERIAL EXAMINED. “Sicily” [incorrect type locality; see below], ♀ holotype ( Figs. 1–7 ) , ZMHB No. 3629.

OTHER TYPE MATERIAL (NOT EXAMINED): Nubia ( Egypt / Sudan border), near to the Nile, ♀ lectotype of Butheolus aristidis Simon, 1882 , MNHN RS-1771 (designated by Lourenço & Leguin, 2011: 2, figs. 1–2), leg. Aristide Letourneux; paralectotypes: 1 adult ♀, 3 ♂, 2 juvenile ♀ MNHN RS-8832 .

OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED. Sudan, Nubia , Wadi Halfa [21.79°N 31.32°E], 1983, 1♀ topotype of Butheolus aristidis Simon, 1882 ( Figs. 8–12 ) , FKCP; Northern State , Wadi El-Ga’ab, 219 m a. s. l., 19°27'47.5"N 30°15'23.3"E 15 September 2019, 1♂ ( Figs. 13–40 ), leg. I. Alkhedir , ZMHB No. 49428.

DIAGNOSIS (♂ ♀). Total length of adults 23–30 mm. Carapace, tergites, and metasoma reddish brown to black. Pedipalp chela and legs yellow. Trichobothrium d 2 on dorsal surface of pedipalp femur present or reduced. Pectinal teeth number 15 in males and 15–20 in females. Movable finger of pedipalps with 9 rows of denticles, 6–7 inner denticles and 2–5 outer denticles. Dorsal carinae on pedipalp patella developed and smooth. Pedipalp femur dorsal smooth. Metasoma I with 10 carinae, metasoma II with 8–10 carinae, III with 6 carinae, metasoma IV–V with 2 dorsolateral carinae and 2 ventrolateral carinae. Ventral carinae of metasoma I–II consist of large granules in one or two rows. Metasoma III–V ventrally and laterally smooth with fine punctation developed, spaces among punctae smooth; metasoma I– II ventrally and laterally granulated, more in male, with punctation reduced. Metasoma V dorsal surface mesially smooth; metasoma I dorsally coarsely granulated. Tergites roughly, densely granulated. Sternite VII granulated, with four granulated carinae present. Pedipalp, metasoma and telson glabrous. Moderate to strong tibial spurs present on legs III and IV. Tarsomere I of legs I–III with 5–6 long setae in both sexes. Ratio length/width of metasoma V 1.19–1.29 in both sexes. Metasoma IV longer as wide as long in female, length/width ratio is 1.10.

COMMENTS. We compared the female holotype of Orthodactylus olivaceus Karsch, 1881 with a female lectotype of Orthochirus scrobiculosus (Grube, 1873) ( Turkmenistan) , a species, with which Karsch’s taxon has been synonymized for over a century (see e.g. Fet & Lowe, 2000: 193). A detailed analysis shows that these two species have nothing in common; see KovařÍk et al. (2020) for an exhaustive study of O. scrobiculosus .

At the same time, our further comparison of the female holotype of Orthodactylus olivaceus Karsch, 1881 to a female topotype of Orthochirus aristidis ( Simon, 1882) from Sudan (Wadi Halfa on the lake Nubia, near the Egyptian border) demonstrated that these specimens match each other precisely in all characters currently used for species resolution inside the genus Orthochirus (see KovařÍk et al., 2020). For a detailed recent diagnosis of O. aristidis , see Lourenço & Leguin (2011).

Our undeniable conclusion is that Orthochirus aristidis ( Simon, 1882) is a junior synonym of the valid species Orthochirus olivaceus ( Karsch, 1881) .

HISTORY OF STUDY. In 1881, Karsch described a new scorpion genus Orthodactylus , with the type species Orthodactylus olivaceus (by monotypy). It was soon discovered that the new generic name was a homonym of the reptilian genus Orthodactylus Hitchcock, 1858 (a fossil crocodile, now a synonym of Batrachopus Hitchcock, 1845 ). To replace the junior homonym, Karsch himself published a new genus name, Orthochirus Karsch, 1892 . While the genus Orthochirus became well-known and used over the next 100 years (e.g. Vachon, 1949; Levy & Amitai, 1980; Fet & Lowe, 2000), the identity of its type species, Orthodactylus olivaceus Karsch, 1881 , was never investigated.

One reason for this neglect was that the type locality of O. olivaceus is unclear. The holotype label ( Figs. 1–2 ) says “Sicilia”. This is clearly an incorrect locality as there are no Orthochirus species found in Sicily—or anywhere in Europe. The type was obtained from Gustav Schneider (1834–1900), a famous taxidermist and merchant in Basel, Switzerland, and, based on our analysis, we suggest that it possibly originated from Egypt since there are other Egyptian buthids obtained from Schneider in ZMHB collection (J. Dunlop, pers. comm.).

Meanwhile, Karsch (1886: 75) himself synonymized this “sicilianischer Skorpion”—as well as Butheolus aristidis Simon, 1882 , described from North Africa—with Buthus schneideri L. Koch, 1878 (as Orthodactylus schneideri ), described from Central Asia. Thus, the name Orthodactylus olivaceus Karsch, 1881 has disappeared from usage for almost 140 years already five years after its description. It was usually only mentioned in literature (in synonymy under Orthochirus scrobiculosus ) when the type species of the genus Orthochirus was listed (e.g. Fet & Lowe, 2000: 193; Francke, 2019: 22).

In its turn, Buthus schneideri L. Koch, 1878 was later synonymized with Androctonus scrobiculosus Grube, 1873 (a synonymy, which still stands; KovařÍk et al., 2020). The latter name, which was eventually moved to Orthochirus , became an “umbrella” taxon, never seriously revised until the 21 st century. As KovařÍk (2004: 1) noted, “The genus Orthochirus has not been revised for many years, although most authors (recently, Fet & Lowe, 2000: 193) consider it complex and in need of a revision. The situation has often been oversimplified by labeling African populations as O. innesi and those from Asia as O. scrobiculosus . ”

Only recently ( KovařÍk et al., 2020), our detailed study based on the type specimen of O. scrobiculosus , allowed to limit this species to Central Asia (western Turkmenistan). Therefore, all taxa previously considered synonyms or subspecies of O. scrobiculosus are in need of re-evaluation. Some of those taxa were already revised and restored to species status, such as O. melanurus (Kessler, 1874) and O. persa (Birula, 1903) from Central Asia ( KovařÍk et al., 2020).

Although the type locality of Orthodactylus olivaceus remains undefined, the name itself is a perfectly available synonym. After our analysis of the holotype, we consider this name valid as Orthochirus olivaceus ( Karsch, 1881) , and a senior synonym of Butheolus aristidis Simon, 1882 , syn. n., which was described from Nubia on the Egypt / Sudan border. The latter species was addressed in several publications dealing with North African scorpion fauna, most recently by Lourenço & Leguin (2011). Following Vachon (1949, 1952), they clearly distinguished O. aristidis from another Egyptian species, O. innesi Simon, 1910 (described from Cairo). However, the detailed analysis of North African Orthochirus is still pending.

DISTRIBUTION. Based on studied specimens, we can confirm distribution of Orthochirus olivaceus in northern Sudan and southern Egypt ( Fig. 41 ). All other populations from Africa cited in literature under O. aristidis probably represent different species.

Figures

Figure 41. Confirmed distribution of Orthochirus olivaceus.

Figures 1–2. Orthochirus olivaceus, holotype female, dorsal (1) and ventral (2) views. Scale bar: 10 mm.

Figures 3–4. Orthochirus olivaceus, holotype female, carapace and tergites (3), and sternopectinal region and sternites (4).

Figures 5–10: Orthochirus olivaceus, females, metasoma and telson, lateral (5, 8), dorsal (6, 9) and ventral (7, 10). Figures 5–7. O. olivaceus, holotype. Figures 8–10. O. aristidis, topotype.

Figures 11–12. Orthochirus olivaceus, female topotype of O. aristidis, dorsal (11) and ventral (12) views. Scale bar: 10 mm.

Figures 13–14. Orthochirus olivaceus, male from Sudan, dorsal (13) and ventral (14) views. Scale bar: 10 mm.

Figures 15–16. Orthochirus olivaceus, male from Sudan, carapace and tergites (15), and sternopectinal region and sternites (16) under white light.

Figures 17–18. Orthochirus olivaceus, male from Sudan, carapace and tergites (17), and sternopectinal region and sternites (18) under UV light.

Figures 19–24. Orthochirus olivaceus, male from Sudan, metasoma and telson, lateral (19, 22), dorsal (20, 23) and ventral (21, 24), under UV white light (19–21) and white light (22–24).

Figures 25–36: Orthochirus olivaceus, male from Sudan. Figures 25–35. Segments of pedipalps. Pedipalp chela, dorsal (25, 35), external (26), and ventral (27) views. Pedipalp patella, dorsal (28), external (29), and ventral (30) views. Pedipalp femur and trochanter, internal (31), dorsal (32), and ventral (33) views. Pedipalp chela, fixed finger dentate margins (34). The trichobothrial pattern is indicated in Figures 25–29, 31–32 (white circles). Figure 36. Right chelicera dorsal aspect.

Figures 37–40. Orthochirus olivaceus, male from Sudan, left legs I–IV, retrolateral aspect.