Liochelidae Fet & Bechly, 2001

Soleglad, Michael E. & Fet, Victor, 2003, High-level systematics and phylogeny of the extant scorpions (Scorpiones: Orthosterni), Euscorpius 2003 (11), pp. 1-175 : 112-113

Family Liochelidae Fet & Bechly, 2001 (1879)

Type Genus. Liocheles Sundevall, 1833 .

Synonyms.

Hemiscorpiidae Pocock, 1893 , new synonymy (valid as subfamily name).

Hadogenidae Lourenço, 1999; type genus Hadogenes Kraepelin, 1894 .

Non-available name.

Ischnuridae Simon, 1879 ; type genus Ischnurus C.L. Koch, 1837 (= Liocheles Sundevall, 1833 ); see Fet & Bechly (2000, 2001) and ICZN (2003).

Composition. Family Liochelidae includes two subfamilies ( Hemiscorpiinae and Liochelinae ) and 11 genera, predominantly from the Old World. The content of Liochelidae is changed here compared to that of Ischnuridae in Fet (2000c) and Prendini (2000), since we transfer here the subfamily Hemiscorpiinae (downgraded from family rank). We also reestablish the nominotypic subfamily Liochelinae (a substitute name for Ischnurinae ).

Distribution. Asia, Africa, Australia, Oceania, Caribbean, Central and South America.

Taxonomic history. Under the name Ischnuridae , this taxon was introduced by Simon (1879), and later for

a long time considered a subfamily of Scorpionidae . It was reestablished by Lourenço (1985, 1989) as a family. Fet & Bechly (2001) introduced Liochelidae as a new substitute name due to the homonymy with damselfly subfamily Ischnurinae , and this name was adopted by the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN, 2003). See Fet (2000c) for a detailed taxonomic history and Prendini (2000) for phylogenetic analysis. Prendini (2000) provided a detailed phylogenetic analysis of Ischnuridae .

A separate monotypic subfamily Hadogenidae , based on the ischnurid genus Hadogenes , was established by Lourenço (1999c) and placed under family Scorpionidae . Later, this subfamily was elevated by Lourenço (2000a) to family rank. We follow Prendini (2000), and do not accept either Hadogenidae or Hadogeninae on cladistic grounds.

Biogeographic history. The liochelids appear to be a typical Gondwanaland element, found in Africa, South America and India ( Sissom, 1990; Fet, 2000c), while subfamily Hemiscorpiinae could represent a further migrant to Middle East from Arabia. The genus Liocheles could later disperse to Australia from Asia (Koch, 1977, Lourenço, 1985). Origin of the genus Opisthacanthus (a predominantly African taxon) in South America has been a subject of discussion ( Newlands, 1973; Francke, 1974; Lamoral, 1980; Lourenço, 1985, 1989; Nenilin & Fet, 1992).

Biogeographic history of Hemiscorpiinae could reflect a relict East African-Arabian isolation.

Diagnosis. (This diagnosis is based on derived characters for clade ( Liochelidae + Hemiscorpiidae ) as presented in Prendini (2000: Fig. 7)). Synapomorphies. Median ocular tubercle of carapace shallow, not raised above carapace surface; nongranular surfaces of prosoma, mesosoma, metasoma, and legs punctate; distal denticles of cheliceral movable finger subequal in length; median denticle (MD) rows of chelal finger doubled, sometimes fused at base; distance between chelal ventral trichobothria V 2 and V 3 great, V 3 much closer to V 4 than to V 2; telson vesicle of adult male laterally flattened; venom glands simple.