Heterometrus cimrmani, Kovarik, 2004

Kawai, Kazusa, Unnahachote, Thornthan, Suttisatid, Yossaphon & Tang, Victoria, 2023, А Review of Heterometrus in Thailand (Scorpiones: Scorpionidae), Euscorpius 373, pp. 1-25 : 10-11

Distribution of H. cimrmani and H. minotaurus in Thailand

H. cimrmani was described by Kovařík (2004) with the type locality from Trang Province, while H. minotaurus was based on a single adult male collected from Surat Thani Province ( Plíšková et al., 2016). Prendini & Loria (2020: 240, 245) reported “ H. laevigatus ” from the provinces of Bangkok, Chumphon, Kanchanaburi, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Narathiwhat, Pattani, Phang Nga, Phattalung, Phetchaburi, Satun, Songkhla, Surat Thani, and Trang, including the islands of Ko Lanta, Ko Muk, Ko Samui, the Phi Phi archipelago, and Phuket. Beyond Thailand, it was also recorded from Langkawi Island in the state of Kedah, Malaysia. According to their figure 158 ( Prendini & Loria, 2020: 277), this species also occurs in Prachuap Khiri Khan and two localities in Myanmar, west to Kanchanaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan in Thailand. Those records were not further elucidated.

The type locality of H. minotaurus , Surat Thani, is adjacent to Nakhon Si Thammarat where H. cimrmani occurs (locality of paratypes; Kovařík, 2004: 9). However, specimens of H. minotaurus were collected from the western region of Surat Thani, not very close to Nakhon Si Thammarat which borders it in the south. The two provinces are also separated by the Marui River on the west and the Nakhon Si Thammarat Range on the east. Based on this geographical pattern interpreted from the original information on both species, the records of “ H. laevigatus ” from Bangkok, Chumphon, Kanchanaburi, Phang Nga, Phetchaburi, Phuket, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Surat Thani are hereby assumed to be those of H. minotaurus . There are no clear boundaries such as mountain ranges or large rivers between the distribution range of H. laoticus and that of H. minotaurus . According to Prendini & Loria (2020: 247), the two species overlap in the provinces of Bangkok and Kanchanaburi. H. laoticus also occurs in Ratchaburi ( Prendini & Loria, 2020: 252), which is also within the distributional range of H. minotaurus , although so far there is no record of the latter species therein. The alleged records from Myanmar are also regarded as the distribution of this species beyond Thailand considering the geography. All the remaining records are hence presumed to be those of H. cimrmani which thus is sympatrically with H. spinifer in Narathiwat. The single paratype female of H. cimrmani from Saigon (Hoshimin), Vietnam ( Kovařík, 2004), was either mislabeled or misidentified ( Prendini & Loria, 2020).