Mesobuthus parthorum ( Pocock, 1889 )

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 : 47-53

Mesobuthus parthorum ( Pocock, 1889) , stat. n.

( Figs. 246–264, 273, 283–284, 302–303, 313, 321, Tables 4–6)

Buthus parthorum Pocock, 1889: 113 , pl. 13, fig. 3.

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE REPOSITORY. Iran, Razavi Khorasan Province, between Harirud Valley and Meshed; BMNH .

REFERENCES (selected) (see Fet & Lowe, 2000 for full list before 1998):

Buthus caucasicus sbsp . typica forma β parthorum (in part): Birula, 1897: 386.

Buthus caucasius parthorum (in part): Birula, 1904b: 31; Birula, 1911: 16.

Buthus caucasicus parthorum (in part): Birula, 1917: 71.

Mesobuthus caucasicus parthorum: Vachon, 1958: 150 , figs. 32–35; Fet, 1980: 224 (in part); Fet, 1989: 104–107 (in part); Fet, 1994: 528 (in part).

Mesobuthus caucasicus intermedius (nec Birula, 1897): Fet, 1989: 107–111 (in part); Fet, 1994: 529 (in part).

Olivierus caucasicus intermedius (nec Birula, 1897): Fet & Lowe, 2000: 191 (in part).

Olivierus caucasicus parthorum: Fet & Lowe, 2000: 19 2 (in part).

Mesobuthus caucasicus (nec Nordmann, 1840): Mirshamsi et al., 2011a: 19 (in part); Stewart, 2012: 245; Navidpour, 2015: 12 (in part; Khorasan).

Afghanobuthus naumanni Lourenço, 2005: 111– 11 4, figs. 1–9, syn. n.

DISTRIBUTION. Afghanistan, Iran (northeast), Turkmenistan (south) ( Figs. 328, A 11).

TYPE MATERIAL. Iran, Razavi Khorasan Province, between Harirud Valley and Meshed (Mashhad), 1♀ (holotype, Figs. 248–249), 36.00°N 60.25°E (approximated), leg. Dr. Aitchison [1888], BMNH No. 87.51 (examined).

O THER MATERIAL STUDIED. Afghanistan, north, 2012, 1♀ 1♂, leg. M. Misch ( FKCP) ; Balkh Province, Kholm District, Kholm Town area , 36.6736°N 67.6997°E, 550 m a.s.l., 2012, 2♀ 1♂ juv. ( Figs. 251, 253, 256, 262–264, 28 4, 303, 321, compared with holotype), leg. M. Misch ( FKCP) ; Balkh Province, Mazar e Sharif City , 36.70°N 67.117°E, 2012, 1♂ 5juvs.(♂ ♀), leg. M. Misch ( FKCP) ; Balkh Province, Badakhshan, Feyzabad Town , 37.1122° N 7 0.5514°E, 1400 m a.s.l., 2012, 1♂ juv., leg. M. Misch ( FKCP) ; Ghazni Province, W of old Ghazni city, 3 3.56ºN 68.41ºE, 220 0 m a.s.l., 200 9, 2♂ 1♀ ( Figs. 246– 247, 250, 252, 254–255, 257–264, 273, 283, 302, 3 13), leg. A. Stewart ( FKCP) ; Ghazni Province, 33.50591ºN 68.41155ºE, 2300 m a.s.l., 2009, 1♀, leg. A. Stewart ( NMPC) ; Jowzjan Province, Aqcha , 36.90ºN 66.21ºE, 1964, 1♀1♀ juv. ( FKCP) ; Kunduz Province, Chahar Dara District , [36.69ºN 68.80ºE], 1♂, 2011, leg. M. Misch ( FKCP) . Turkmenistan, Mary Province, Serketabad District, Serketabad , 38.28ºN 62.40ºE, 667 m a.s.l, 5 April 2002, leg. VF & AG, 1♂ juv., ( NMPC) , 1 juv. ( VFPC) ; Mary Province, Serketabad District, Kushka River valley , right bank, ca. 1.5 km NNE of Chemenibit, 35.47ºN 62.4ºE, 521 m a.s.l., 5 April 2002, leg. VF & AG, 1♀ ( VFPC) ; Mary Province, Serketabad District, Badghyz Plateau, Chainury Sands , ca 42 km NW of Chemenibit, 35.65ºN 61.83ºE, 452 m a.s.l, 6 April 2002, 4juvs.(♂ ♀), leg. VF & AG ( NMPC) .

DIAGNOSIS. Total length of adult males 55–64 mm, 70– 85 females. Trichobothrium db on fixed finger of pedipalp situated between trichobothria est and esb, near to est. Fingers little twisted, identically in both sexes. Pedipalp chela length/ width ratio 3.62–4.03 in males and 3.52–4.09 in females. Pectinal teeth number 26–30 in males, 20–24 in females. Chelicerae yellow, without reticulation. Pedipalps and metasoma very sparsely hirsute. Color uniformly white to yellowish grey; pedipalp sefgments dorsally and metasomal segment V could be black pigmented. Femur of pedipalp with 4–5 granulate carinae. Patella with 8 granulate or smooth carinae. Chela obviously lacks carinae. Movable fingers of pedipalps with 12–14 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. Dorsal carinae on metasomal segments I–IV composed of consistent small blunt denticles. Length to width ratio of fourth metasomal segment 1.64–1.79 in males, 1.61– 1.70 in females. Telotarsus III ventral setation represented by longer setae in two rows. Pedal spur of legs with solitary setae only.

NOTES.

1. Pocock (1889) described this species based on a single female that we examined through a kind loan by Janet Beccaloni. The holotype was collected by the British naturalist James Edward Tierney Aitchison in a previously unexplored area, which now lies within three countries: Iran (northeast, Khorassan Province), Afghanistan (northwest; Herat Province), and Turkmenistan (south; Mary Province, Serketabad District ). Aitchison’s travels were part of exploration during the Afghan Delimitation Commission that established the final border between Afghanistan and Russian Empire (in its newly annexed Transcaspian Region ). While most Aitchison’s trips were within Afghanistan (and none within the Russian Empire), some ventured into northeastern Iran; his detailed travelogues and maps are published ( Aitchison , 1888). As he traveled “ between Harirud Valley and Meshed (now Mashhad)”, Aitchison would have traversed low-altitude Paropamisus Mts. from Afghanistan to Iran. Harirud River (under the name Tejen River ) forms the modern border between Iran and Turkmenistan. We approximate the type locality (which is not precisely defined) to be at 36.00°N 60.25°E. Our specimens from Kushka River valley ( Turkmenistan, 35.47°N 62.40° E) match Pocock’s holotype morphologically and are the closest to type locality .

2. Biogeographically, the “tri-state area” discussed above belongs to the Paropamisus Mts., which are the northernmost, low-altitude latitudinal massif of Hindu Kush range. Paropamisus lies within northeast Iran and northwest Afgnanistan, but also extends slightly into modern Turkmenistan at its southernmost point, in Kushka River valley next to Serketabad (formerly Kushka, or Gushgy) town; Kushka River flows from Paropamisus Mts. northward where, within lowland desert, it joins Murghab River near Iolotan, Turkmenistan. Zoogeographic composition of Paropamisus northern foothills and Kushka River valley is quite different from other Turkmenistan mountains, i.e. Kopetdagh Mts. to the west, and Koytendagh (formerly Kugitang) Mts. to the east. It is not suprising to find the clear allopatry between M. parthorum , limited to the very south of Turkmenistan (northern foothills of Paropamisus, ca. 600–700 m a.s.l. and Chainury Sands near Kushka Valley) and M. gorelovi sp.n., the most widespread species in the lowland deserts of Central Asia. Notably, M. gorelovi sp.n. is found in Turkmenistan not only in the lowland desert of Karakum but also into desert plateaus such as Badghyz (up to 810 m a.s.l., Kepele).

3. The name Mesobuthus caucasicus parthorum (as Buthus c. parthorum ) has been applied to the lowland desert populations found in Turkmenistan for almost 120 years, following the first assignment by Birula (1897). Birula apparently never analyzed Pocock’s type, but the ZISP collection at his time contained specimens from Paropamisus Mts. (“south of Kushka”, coll. by K. Ahnger, ZISP 1208; Fet, 1989: 106). However, the majority of specimens available to Birula (1897, 1904a) were psammophiles that originated from the populations inhabiting lowland Karakum Desert (Krasnovodsk, Ashgabat, Anau, Tejen, Repetek, etc.), all assigned by us to Mesobuthus gorelovi sp. n. Diagnostic characters that Birula (1897) provided for his Buthus caucasicus parthorum and B. c. intermedius were inconclusive, which led to his listing of both “subspecies” as found sympatrically in Repetek (Birula, 1911).

4. For Afghanistan, a single record was published by Vachon (1958) as M. caucasicus parthorum from Kabul, with a redescription and illustrations ( Vachon, 1958: 150, figs. 32–35).

Other Taxa (not examined)