Anomalobuthus zarudnyi ( Birula, 1911 ) Teruel & Kovařík & Fet, 2018

Teruel, Rolando, Kovařík, František & Fet, Victor, 2018, Revision of the Central Asian scorpion genus Anomalobuthus Kraepelin, 1900, with descriptions of three new species and a generic synonymy (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Euscorpius 270, pp. 1-45 : 28-37

Anomalobuthus zarudnyi ( Birula, 1911) , comb. n.

Figure 141

Psammobuthus zarudnyi Birula, 1911a: 69–74 ; Birula, 1911b: 172; Birula, 1917: 131–132, 150, 166; Fet, 1989: 119; Fet & Lowe, 2000: 214 (includes full list of references before 1998); Capes & Fet, 2001: 300–301; Fet et al., 2001: 184.

LECTOTYPE ♂ ( ZISP 615 , herein designated). Uzbekistan, Andijon Province , Mingbulak, 40°51'56"N 71°39'55"E, 13 [26] August 1909, leg. N. Zarudny.

PARALECTOTYPE. ♀ ( ZISP 616 ). Tajikistan, Khujand Province , Kairakkum, 40°15'39"N 69°47'57"E, 28– 31 May [10–13 June] 1908, leg. N. Zarudny.

DIAGNOSIS (updated, based on one adult pair). Adult size standard for the genus (male 29 mm, female 30 mm). Coloration yellow, with irregular blackish spots and reticulations on carapace, tergites, pedipalps, legs, and metasoma; tergites with two conspicuous submedian dark stripes; metasomal segment V and telson reddish. Pedipalp fingers with 10–11 principal rows of denticles and 8 internal accessory denticles. Pectines with 24/26 teeth in male, 20/ 20 in female. Tibial spur present in legs III–IV (weaker in female leg III). Metasoma with most carinae moderately developed; ventral lateral carinae of segment V composed of sharply lobate denticles, dorsal lateral and lateral supramedian carinae of segments I–IV with terminal denticle enlarged; intercarinal areas mostly smooth, with granulation sparse ventrally and laterally, of segment V dense ventrally and sparse laterally. Telson vesicle elongate oval.

DESCRIPTION (adult male lectotype, translated and updated from Birula, 1911a). Coloration base pale to brownish yellow. Pedipalp femur with dorsal surface infuscate; patella with internal surface infuscate. Carapace with an anterior V-shaped, broad blackish spot from median ocular tubercle through frontal margin, plus three large, transverse blackish spots: one behind median ocular tubercle and two laterally along posterior margin. Tergites each with two large dark spots, that form a pair of broad lateral bands. Legs essentially immaculate, only with femur of II–III infuscate. Metasoma not conspicuously bicolor, but becoming progressively darker distally, with a diffuse annulated appearance: basal part of each segment infuscate in the shape of dark rings, which become larger and reticulate both dorsally and ventrally.

Pedipalps. Relatively short but very slender. Femur with carinae granulose; intercarinal tegument smooth and glossy. Patella with carinae vestigial, smooth; intercarinal tegument smooth and glossy. Chela elongate and slender; manus somewhat wider than patella (ratio 1.50), somewhat flattened (1.07 times longer than wide, 1.67 times wider than deep), without carinae; intercarinal tegument smooth and glossy; fingers long (movable finger 2.00 times longer than underhand), only subtly curved and with 10–11 principal rows of denticles (the three basalmost rows are poorly defined), basal lobe/notch combination absent, external accessory denticles absent, internal accessory denticles large and numbering eight on both fingers, movable finger with one accessory denticle basal to the terminal denticle.

Carapace. Anterior margin straight to shallowly convex. Carination essentially absent: the only carinae present are the superciliaries, which are strongly granulose. Tegument very finely and densely granulose, with coarser granules scattered all over.

Sternum. Standard for the genus, relatively small and wide.

Genital operculum. Each half roundly subtriangular in shape.

Pectines. Standard-sized for the genus: very long, extending to posterior margin of sternite IV, subrectangular. Tooth count 24/26.

Legs. Very slender, with all carinae weak and subgranulose to subcostate; intercarinal tegument smooth and glossy. Tibial spurs well-developed on legs III–IV.

Mesosoma. Tergites very finely and densely granulose, with subtle vestiges or coarser granules scattered; I–VI irregularly tricarinate: the median longitudinal carina is weak and the submedian carinae are poorly defined by 2–3 coarse granules only. Sternites III–VI smooth and glossy; VII with two pairs of carinae: the submedians are smooth and the laterals are granulose, intercarinal tegument very finely and densely granulose except smooth medially.

Metasoma. Moderately elongated and slightly narrower distally; with 10/8/8/8/5 complete to almost complete, serrate carinae: dorsal laterals very strong on I, strong on II–III with terminal denticles enlarged on the latter, moderate on IV, absent on V; lateral supramedians very strong on I, irregular on II–III with terminal denticles enlarged on the latter, weak on IV, smooth on V; lateral inframedians very strong on I, undefined to absent on II–V; ventral laterals strong on I, strong on II–III, obsolete on IV, strong on V, where become progressively stronger and somewhat flared distally, formed by sharp, subequal denticles; ventral submedians very strong on I, strong on II–III, obsolete on IV, absent on V; ventral median absent on I–IV, finely denticulate and distally bifurcate on V. Intercarinal tegument smooth and glossy, with many granules of different sizes scattered all over lateral and ventral surfaces, which become progressively denser and coarser towards segment V. Dorsal furrow moderately deep on all segments. Setation sparse over carinae.

Telson. Vesicle elongate oval (2.00 times longer than wide, 0.77 times wider than deep), tegument smooth and glossy, with coarse granules arranged into longitudinal carinae. Subaculear tubercle absent. Aculeus shorter than vesicle.

FEMALE (paralectotype, data extracted from Birula, 1911a). Very similar to male, sexual dimorphism evident by: 1) size slightly larger; 2) metasoma somewhat less slender; 3) tergites I–VI with median carina more strongly and regularly developed; 4) pectines with consistently lower tooth count (20/20); 5) tibial spur highly reduced on leg III.

VARIATION. Unknown, only one adult of each sex have been collected.

COMPARISON. According to Birula (1911a), the extensively dark-patterned coloration and the strong development of ventral lateral and ventral submedian carinae on metasomal segments II–III, both seem to distinguish this species clearly from all its other congeners. Moreover, it is the only species of Anomalobuthus known to occur in the sands of the Ferghana Valley.

DISTRIBUTION ( Fig. 141). Isolate sands of the Ferghana Valley in the border region between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

NOTES.

1. The only known two specimens of this species were collected in 1908 and 1909 by the famous Russian ornithologist and traveler Nikolay Alekseevich Zarudny (1859-1919) who also brought numerous scorpions for A. Birula's ZISP collection, including many new species from the previously unexplored areas of Iran.

2. The unavailability of the types and lack of additional specimens of A. zarudnyi comb. n. prevents us from doing a deeper analysis of its true taxonomic status within the genus. Until any counterevidence appears, it seems more appropriate to retain it as a valid species. Moreover, two points seem to support the present assumption: the strikingly contrasting coloration ( Birula, 1911a) that does not match any of the populations of Anomalobuthus studied during this revision, and its isolated distribution inside the Ferghana Valley ( Fig. 137).

3. In the last 100 years, the Ferghana Valley sands have all but disappeared due to irrigation. On 18-20 May 2002, our field expedition (VF and A.V. Gromov) visited the remaining sand massifs of the modern Ferghana Province, Uzbekistan (Kairakkum Sands in Besharyk District, 40.4735°N 70.4503°E, and “Karakalpak Steppe” in Yazyavan District, 40.6580°N 71.5072°E). We did not find A. zarudnyi , while psammophilic Mesobuthus gorelovi Fet et al., 2018 was abundant and active.