Mesobuthus intermedius (Birula, 1897)

Fet, Victor, Kovařík, František, Gantenbein, Benjamin, Kaiser, Ronald C., Stewart, Alexander K. & Graham, Matthew R., 2018, Revision of the Mesobuthus caucasicus complex from Central Asia with descriptions of six new species (Scorpiones Buthidae), Euscorpius 255, pp. 1-77 : 26-29

Mesobuthus intermedius (Birula, 1897) , stat. n.

( Figs. 115–118)

Buthus caucasicus sbsp . typica forma γ intermedia Birula, 1897: 387.

TYPE LOCALITY (designated here) AND TYPE REPOS- ITORY. Tajikistan: Dushanbe Province, Khoja Obigarm ; ZISP.

REFERENCES (selected; in part); see Fet (1989) and Fet & Lowe (2000) for full list before 1998:

Buthus caucasius forma intermedia: Birula, 1904a: 22; Birula, 1904b: 31.

Buthus caucasius intermedius: Birula, 1911: 168 .

Buthus caucasicus intermedius: Birula, 1917: 71 .

Mesobuthus caucasicus intermedius: Vachon, 1958: 150 ; Fet, 1989: 107–111.

Olivierus caucasicus intermedius: Fet & Lowe, 2000: 191 .

DISTRIBUTION. Tajikistan,? Uzbekistan,? Kyrgyzstan ( Figs. 328, A 6).

TYPE MATERIAL:

Lectotype (designated here): 1 ♂, Tajikistan: Dushanbe Province, Khoja Obigarm , 6 July 1896, leg. L. S. Barszczewsky ( ZISP 1180 , Figs. 115–116).

Paralectotypes (designated here) (after Fet, 1989: 107–111, with corrections); all dates are given in “Old” (Julian) style; 57 adult specimens and 29 juveniles.

The following list of paralectotypes is a reconstructed syntype series of Buthus caucasicus sbsp . typica forma γ intermedia Birula, 1897 (as listed by Fet, 1989; see Notes):

Kazakhstan: Almaty Province, Jarkent , 25 June 1890, leg. P. Schmidt, 1♀ ( ZISP 96 ) ; East Kazakhstan Province, Tarbagatai Mts. , 1871, leg. I. Ya. Slovtsov, 1 ♂ ( ZISP 94 ) (loc. dub.) . Kyrgyzstan: Osh Province, Osh, 29 March–24 April 1884, leg. G. T. Grumm-Grzhimailo, 1 ex. ( ZISP) . Tajikistan: Dushanbe Province, Khoja Obigarm , 6 July 1896, leg. LSB, 8♀ ( Figs. 117–118), 1 juv. ( ZISP 1180 ; see also lectotype with the same label) ; 1896, leg. LSB, 7 juvs. ( ZISP 1181 ) ; Varzob and Siama (“ Siuma ”) Rivers confluence, 8 July 1896, leg. LSB, 1♀ ( ZISP 1176 ) 1♀ ( ZISP 1303 ) ; Khujand Province, Zeravshan Valley , 1892, leg. D. Glazunov, 1♀ ( ZISP 81 ) ; Rasht District: Garm , 29 July 1896, leg. LSB, 1 juv. ( ZISP 1648 ) ; Yakhak , 17 August 1896, leg. LSB, 3♂ 5♀ ( ZISP 1179 ) . Uzbekistan: Fargona [ Fergana ] Province, Shohimardon (= Shakhimardan ), 28–29 May 1893, leg. Trotsina, 5♂ 3 juvs. ( ZISP 79 ) . Quashquadaryo [Kashkadarya] Province, Qarshi District , Qarshi , 18 April 1885, leg. G. T. Grumm-Grzhimailo, 3♂ ( ZISP 83 ) ; Shahrisabz District, Chopukh (= Chapug ) (on Tankhazdarya River ), 14 June 1896, leg. LSB, 3♀ 1juv. ( ZISP 1885 ) ; Gilan (= Gilyan ), 7 June 1896, leg. LSB, 1♂ 1juv. ( ZISP 1257 ) ; Kul’ , 15 June 1896, leg. LSB, 1♂ 3♀ 4 juvs. ( ZISP 1178 ) ; Shut , 5 June 1896, leg. LSB, 1♀ 2juvs. ( ZISP 1173 ) ; Samarqand [Samarkand] Province, Samarkand , 1871, 1♀ ( ZISP 80 ) ; Samarkand , 1895, leg. LSB, 1♀ ( ZISP 97 ) ; Samarkand , February 1896, leg. LSB, 2juvs. ( ZISP 99 ) ; Samarkand , March 1896, leg. LSB, 3juvs. ( ZISP 98 ) ; Samarkand , 21 March 1896, leg. LSB, 3♂ 1♀ ( ZISP 100 ) ; Samarkand , May 1896, leg. LSB, 1♀ ( ZISP 1195 ) ; Samarkand , 4 October 1896, leg. LSB, 1♂ ( ZISP 1288 ) . Surxondaryo [Surkhandarya] Province, Sang-Gardak , 20 June 1896, leg. LSB, 2♂ 7♀ 8juvs. ( ZISP 1177 ) ; Toshkent [Tashkent] Province, Tashkent , leg. A. Nikolsky, 1♀ ( ZISP 87 ) .

OTHER MATERIAL STUDIED. Tajikistan: Dushanbe Province, Gissar Mt. Range, 38th km of Varzob Hwy, Takob Gorge , env. of Dehmalik Village , 38.84715°N 68.91°E, 805 m a.s.l., 8 May 2015, leg. Y. M. Marusik & M. Saidov, 2♀ juvs . ( FKCP).

DIAGNOSIS. Total length of adult 55–70. Trichobothrium db on fixed finger of pedipalp situated between trichobothria est and esb, near to est. Male with fingers proximally usually more twisted than female. Pedipalp chela length/ width ratio 3.72–4.60 in males and 3.90– 4.22 in females. Pectinal teeth number 21–23 in males, 17–19 in females. Pedipalp chela length/ width ratio 3.50–3.60 in males and 3.70–3.85 in females. Chelicerae yellow, without reticulation. Pedipalps and metasoma very sparsely hirsute. Color uniformly yellow to yellowish brown, black pigmented dorsal carinae on pedipalp femur and patella, ventral carinae on metasoma, metasomal segment V ventrally, and carapace anteriorly. Femur of pedipalp with 4–5 granulate carinae. Patella with 8 granulated or smooth carinae. Chela with smooth carinae indicated. Movable fingers of pedipalps with 13– 14 cutting rows of denticles and 5 terminal denticles. Seventh sternite bears 4 well marked granulate carinae. First metasomal segment with 10 carinae; second to fourth with 8 carinae, other two carinae on metasomal segment II could be indicated by several denticles posteriorly; fifth with 5 carinae. All carinae granulated by consistent small blunt denticles. Telotarsus III ventral setation represented by short and strong spiniform setae. Pedal spur of legs with solitary setae only.

NOTES

1. This taxon was described by Birula (1897: 387) as an intrasubspecific form (“forma γ”), very briefly (one paragraph); no type specimens were designated. In the same work, it was also called by a combination Buthus caucasicus intermedius (p. 386) and distinguished from another Central Asian intrasubspecific form (“forma β”, to which Birula assigned Buthus parthorum Pocock, 1889 ). Its terra typica also was not defined; instead, a very wide range within the Central Asian part of the Russian Empire and its dependencies was indicated, as “Buchara, Ferghana, Semiretchye”. However, by the time the paper was submitted by Birula to the Annuaire du Musée Zoologique (10 September 1897), ample material was available in ZISP from the Buchara Khanate, a protectorate of the Rusian Empire (now Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). In contrast, only a few specimens were available from Ferghana (now Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan) and Semiretchye (now Kazakhstan). The taxon was later treated as a subspecies (starting with Birula, 1904a) but was never revised.

2. Most of the “Buchara” specimens available in ZISP collection were freshly collected by the famous explorers Lev Semёnovich Barszczewsky (1849–1910) and Vladimir Ippolitovich Lipsky (1863–1937) in June-August 1896, in their first expedition to the remote mountains of the Buchara Khanate. Barszczewsky’s collection was obtained by ZISP, where Alexei Birula himself at that time was in charge of the 1st Invertebrates Division including Arachnida. Barszczewsky collection is mentioned in the Report of the Zoological Museum for the year 1896 covering materials obtained by ZISP in 1896. The report was published in the same 3d volume of the Annuaire du Musée Zoologique (December 1897) where Birula (1897) paper was submitted. Barszczewsky’s travelogue is narrated to a great detail in a voluminous report by his collaborator ( Lipsky, 1902). We identified all 9 localities where scorpions were collected in June-August 1896 in Gissaro-Darvaz Mts. The label localities go in a following sequence (original ‘Old Style’ dates and altitudes by Lipsky): [ Uzbekistan]: Shut (6722 ft, 5 June) – Gilan (6677 ft, 7 June) – Chopukh (5958 ft, 14 June) – Kul’ (15 June) – Sang-Gardak (4492 ft, 20 June) – [ Tajikistan]: Khoja Obigarm (5893 ft, 6 July) – Varzob and Siama Rivers confluence (8 July) – Garm (29 July) – Yakhak (4600 ft, 17 August 1896). For Sang-Gardak, Lipsky (1899: 91) even made a note that “some places had many scorpions and solpugids under stones”. Specimens from seven of these localities (Khoja Obigarm, Sang-Gardak, Varzob/Siama, Shut, Chopukh, Kul’, Yakhak) were later listed as Buthus caucasius intermedius by Birula (1904a: 23), with detailed label information.

3. It is impossible to establish with confidence which exact specimens were seen by Birula by September 1897. Above, we attempted to reconstruct a possible syntype series as a subset of all available ZISP labels published by Fet (1989), with updated toponymy and administrative division. From this large series, mostly collected by L. S. Barszczewsky in 1896, we select a lectotype from Khoja Obigarm, Tajikistan (38.89 85°N, 68.8211°E) in the Varzob River valley. It is still an easily identifiable type locality, with hot springs (mentioned already by Lipsky); today, a landmark balneological resort. All other syntypes listed above technically become paralectotypes of Mesobuthus intermedius . The list definitely contains several taxa, since many populations from the mountains of Central Asia at this time remain unrevised. Identity of paralectotypes from Kazakhstan (Tarbagatai Mts.) is especially doubtful. Barsczewsky’s 1896 collection also yielded a new subspecies of Mesobuthus eupeus (C. L. Koch, 1839) , M. e. barsczewskii (Birula, 1904); its status is currently unclear.

4. Already the next year after the Barszczewsky- Lipsky expedition, in April–August 1897, a prominent explorer A. N. Kaznakov (1871–1933) also collected scorpions (as well as many other animals) in Gissaro-Darvaz and Pamiro-Alai Mts. of Buchara (now Tajikistan and Uzbekistan). Kaznakov’s valuable material was first listed in Birula (1904b) (see also Fet, 1989), and yielded “ Buthus caucasicus intermedius ” as well as a new taxon, Buthus kaznakovi Birula, 1904 (see below). Kaznakov collected in Shugnan at least until 30 August 1897 (all dates here and below in original ‘Old Style’), as we could establish from the labels accompanying his specimens belonging to other animal groups. The paper of Birula (1897) was submitted to the Annuaire du Musée Zoologique on 10 September 1897 (the issue was published in November 1897). It is highly unlikely that sorted Kaznakov’s material was available to Birula before he finalized his paper in September 1897. This material is listed in the Report of the Zoological museum for the year 1897 covering materials obtained by ZISP in 1897, published in the Volume 4 of the Annuaire (December 1898). Kaznakov’s scorpion specimens, with detailed labels, were first mentioned in print only in 1904 (Birula, 1904a: 23) along with Barsczewsky’s 1896 collection. Therefore, scorpions collected by Kaznakov in 1897 are not included into the reconstructed syntype series of M. intermedius . At the same time, Kaznakov’s collection contains specimens later identified by Birula as Buthus caucasicus intermedius from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Among them, there are specimens collected in Akrabat (29 April 1897), “Baba-tau” (Babatag) ([18] May 1897), Igarchi and Sarypul’ (Yakhsu River valley, no exact date, 1897); on the road from Sarypul’ to Talbar (the shortest way to Chil’dara via Talbar Pass) (28–29 May 1897), in

Fet et al.: Revision of Mesobuthus caucasicus Complex 29

Chil’dara (30 May–7 June 1897), and Tutkavul (no exact date, 1897). Kaznakov’s collection also yielded a new species, M. kaznakovi (Birula, 1904) (see below).