Smeringurus Haradon, 1983

Soleglad, Michael E. & Fet, Victor, 2008, Contributions to scorpion systematics. III. Subfamilies Smeringurinae and Syntropinae (Scorpiones: Vaejovidae), Euscorpius 71 (71), pp. 1-115 : 81

Genus Smeringurus Haradon, 1983

Type Species. Paruroctonus vachoni Stahnke, 1961 [= Smeringurus vachoni (Stahnke, 1961) ].

References (selected):

Paruroctonus (Smeringurus) : Haradon, 1983: 255– 256.

Smeringurus : Stockwell, 1992: 409, 4 16, 419, figs. 59–60; Kovařík, 1998: 146; Sissom, 2000: 524– 526; Soleglad & Fet, 2003b: 88.

Composition. This genus includes the following five species and subspecies:

S. aridus (Soleglad, 1972)

S. grandis (Williams, 1970)

S. mesaensis (Stahnke, 1957)

S. vachoni vachoni (Stahnke, 1961)

S. vachoni immanis (Soleglad, 1972)

Distribution. Mexico (Baja California, Sonora),

USA (Arizona, California, Nevada) .

The genus has a somewhat compact range (see map in Fig. 197 ). Smeringurus mesaensis , a psammophile, is found in sandy areas in central Arizona, into the Colorado Desert of California and northeastern Baja California, and north into the Mojave Desert of California. S. grandis essentially replaces S. mesaensis where the Colorado Desert ends and the volcanic regions of the Sierra San Pedro Mártir occur on the eastern coast of the peninsula. Species S. vachoni and S. aridus both are fossorial; S. vachoni occurs in the Mojave Desert in California and southern Nevada, and along the Colorado River; and S. aridus , further south in the Colorado Desert in California, its range extending south towards Baja California.

Diagnosis. Metasomal segments I–IV with a pair of ventromedian (VM) carinae; metasomal segments I–IV always longer than wide in both genders, segment III more than two times longer than wide, segment IV three times longer than wide; setal pairs lacking on ventromedian (VM) carinae of segments I–IV, instead they are located between the VM; lamina of hemispermatophore with squared or rounded distal tip, inner base of lamina without small protrusion; vesicular tabs reduced and rounded, distal granule vestigial to obsolete in adults.

Taxonomic history. Haradon (1983) described Smeringurus as a subgenus of Paruroctonus Werner, 1934 . Stockwell (1992) elevated Smeringurus to the genus level. Sissom (2000: 505) noted, regarding the status of Smeringurus , that “the situation requires further study.” Beutelspacher (2000) ignored existence of this genus-group name. The name Paruroctonus is still widely (and incorrectly) used in non-taxonomic literature for Smeringurus species, especially for S. mesaensis .

Discussion. This genus contains some of the largest scorpions in family Vaejovidae . A female Smeringurus vachoni vachoni was reported by Gertsch & Soleglad (1966: table 3) to be 98 mm in length and a female S. aridus 84 mm in length was reported by Soleglad (1972: table 1) (note, one must add in the telson length in both of these references). Matthew Graham recently informed us he has a live S. v. vachoni that is 111.5 mm in length (pers. comm., 2008), clearly the largest reported for this genus to date. Williams (1980) reports that S. mesaensis and S. grandis reach sizes of 70 and 80 mm, respectively.

Smeringurus mesaensis , the only psammophile in this small genus, is found sympatrically with both S. vachoni in the Mojave Desert and with S. aridus in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in the Colorado Desert. Interestingly, the first author has encountered S. mesaensis with both S. vachoni immanis and S. aridus ; in each case, S. mesaensis was occupying the soft sand of a desert wash while a few feet away, S. v. immanis in one case and S. aridus in the other were both found on the hard soil forming the banks of the wash.

Figures

Figure 197: General distribution of scorpion subfamily Smeringurinae in North America with the ranges of genera Paravaejovis (tribe Paravaejovini) and Smeringurus, Paruroctonus, and Vejovoidus (tribe Smeringurini) delineated.