Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880)

Amiri, Masoumeh, Prendini, Lorenzo, Hussen, Fenik Sherzad, Aliabadian, Mansour, Siahsarvie, Roohollah & Mirshamsi, Omid, 2024, Integrative systematics of the widespread Middle Eastern buthid scorpion, Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880), reveals a new species in Iran, Arthropod Systematics & amp; Phylogeny 82, pp. 323-341 : 323

Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880)

Figs 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8

Buthus saulcyi Simon, 1880: 378

Buthotus saulcyi : Vachon 1949: 147, 1952: 233; Akbari et al. 1997: 112.

Hottentotta saulcyi : Kovařík 1997: 40; Fet & Lowe 2000: 143; Crucitti & Vignoli 2002: 446; Kovařík 2007: 61; Navidpour et al. 2008: 5; Yağmur et al. 2008: 1; Pirali-Kheirabadi et al. 2009: 6; Navidpour et al. 2012: 7-9, fig. 10; Kovařík & Ojanguren 2013: 159-180, figs. 978-982, 1131, 133-1135.

Type material.

Holotype (sex unknown) (MNHN), paratype (sex unknown) (ZMUH), IRAQ: Nineveh Governorate: Mosul, 36.34°N 43.13°E [not examined].

Material examined.

IRAN: Lorestan Province: Borojerd, Vanui Village, 33°54′35″N 48°35′29″E, 2032 m, 22.vi.2019, M. Amiri, 1 ♂ (ZMFUM 1994), 33°53′58″N 48°34′36″E, 2045 m, 29.ix.2019, M. Amiri, 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀ (ZMFUM 1998-2003); Aleshtar, 33°53′13″N 48°17′11″E, 1964 m, 15.vii.2017, M. Amiri, 3 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀ (ZMFUM 1907, 1910-1913), 28.iv.2020, M. Amiri, 1 ♀ (ZMFUM 2046); Aleshtar, Gereiran Village , 33°54′58.3″N 48°13′46.8″E, 1762 m, 4.vii.2019, M. Amiri, 1 ♂ (ZMFUM 2013); Aleshtar, Kahman Village , 33°57′40.7″N 48°20′19.7″E, 2087 m, 17.v.2019, M. Danialy, 13.vii.2020, M. Amiri, 3 ♂♂ (ZMFUM 1976, 2062, 2063); Aleshtar, Peresk Village , 33°49′12″N 48°22′32″E, 1894 m, 16.vii.2017, M. Amiri, 1 ♂ (ZMFUM 1908); Khoramabad-Andimeshk road, 33°25′10″N 48°11′40″E, 1387 m, 5.vii.2019, M. Amiri, 1 ♀ (ZMFUM 2014) . IRAQ: Erbil Governate: Qatawi , 36°07′37.2″N 43°57′32.4″E, 8.vi.2018, F.S. Hussen, 1 subad. ♂ (AMCC [LP 16871]); Grd Mala, 36°00′32.89″N 44°03′40.59″E, 20.vi.2023, F.S. Hussen, 5 ♀♀, 1 subad. ♀ (ZMFUM 2094-2099) .

Diagnosis.

Hottentotta saulcyi may be distinguished from H. hatamtiorum sp. nov. by the narrower metasomal segments (MtIL/W Hsau 1.01 ± 0.06; MtIL/W Hhat 1.17 ± 0.11) and telson (TW Hsau 3.99 ± 0.62; TW Hhat 4.25 ± 0.70); and from H. akbarii and H. khoozestanus by the coloration, specifically the infuscate anterior part of the carapace, metasomal segment V and telson.

Hottentotta saulcyi may be further separated from other species of the genus by the following combination of characters. Scorpions of medium to large size, adults 60-105 mm (♂) or 57-94 mm (♀) in total length (Figs 5 , 6 ). Base color yellow to yellowish-green or brown; chelicerae, anterior part of carapace, metasomal segment V, and telson infuscate, black; ventral carinae on metasomal segments III and IV may be also infuscate (Fig. 5 ). Median ocular tubercle situated in anterior half of carapace, distance from anterior carapace margin, 3.78 ± 0.61. Median denticle rows of pedipalp chela fixed and movable fingers each comprising 14 or 15 oblique subrows of denticles. Pedipalp chela movable finger long relative to manus, 11.32 ± 1.96. Pectinal tooth count, 30-34 (♂) or 25-29 (♀). Pedipalps, dorsal surface of mesosomal tergites, legs, lateral and ventral surfaces of metasomal segments, and telson vesicle moderately hirsute. Sternite VII with four ventral carinae. Telson large, narrow, vesicle oblong-ovoid, length to width, 2.72 ± 0.21, and length to height, 2.84 ± 0.2.

Distribution.

Hottentotta saulcyi is recorded from the Baghdad and Nineveh provinces of Iraq ( Simon 1880; Kovařík 2007); the Alborz, Ardabil, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, East Azerbaijan, Hamadan, Ilam, Kermanshah, Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad, Kurdistan, Lorestan, Markazi, Qazvin, Tehran, West Azerbaijan and Zanjan provinces of Iran ( Kovařík 2007; Navidpour et al. 2008; Pirali-Kheirabadi et al. 2009; Karataş et al. 2012; Moradi et al. 2018; Barahoei et al. 2021) and the Batman, Hakkâri, Mardin and Şırnak provinces of Turkey (Crucitti & Vignoli 2002; Yağmur et al. 2008; Kovařík et al. 2018). Records from Afghanistan ( Kovařík 1997) and the Bushehr and Sistan and Baluchistan provinces of eastern Iran ( Nejati et al. 2014; Kovařík et al. 2018) are probably misidentifications.

Figures

Figure 1. Geographical distributions of Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880) and Hottentotta hatamtiorum sp. nov., plotted on the topography of Iran. Green and red circles denote collection localities of specimens used in morphometric analysis (A) and samples sequenced for phylogenetic analysis (B) assessed to be conspecific with H. saulcyi and H. hatamtiorum sp. nov., respectively. Blue squares assessed to be conspecific with H. saulcyi based on records from the literature.

Figure 2. Bayesian inference (BI) phylogeny of Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880), Hottentotta hatamtiorum sp. nov., and the outrgroup, Hottentotta schach (Birula, 1905), based on 2009 aligned nucleotide base-pairs of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Nodal support values above branches represent posterior probability values from BI and bootstrap values from Maximum likelihood analyses. Scale bar represents number of substitutions per nucleotide site.

Figure 3. Boxplots of overall size for ten populations (males and females) of Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880) and Hottentotta hatamtiorum sp. nov.

Figure 4. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) of Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880) and Hottentotta hatamtiorum sp. nov., based on sex corrected shape data. Dashed lines indicate minimum spanning tree (MST).

Figure 5. Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880), habitus, dorsal aspect (A, C), ventral aspect (B, D). A, B. ♂ (ZMFUM 2001); C, D. ♀ (ZMFUM 2063). Scale bars = 10 mm.

Figure 6. Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880), habitus (UV fluorescence), dorsal aspect (A, C), ventral aspect (B, D). A, B. ♂ (ZMFUM 2001); C, D. ♀ (ZMFUM 2063). Scale bars = 10 mm.

Figure 7. Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880), pedipalp segments (UV fluorescence): femur, dorsal aspect (A, B), patella, dorsal aspect (C, D), and chela, lateral aspect (E, F). A, C, E ♂ (ZMFUM 2001); B, D, F. ♀ (ZMFUM 2063). Scale bars = 2.5 mm.

Figure 8. Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880), metasomal segments (UV fluorescence), lateral aspect (A, B), ventral aspect (C, D). A, C ♂ (ZMFUM 2001); B, D ♀ (ZMFUM 2063). Scale bars = 10 mm.