Sassanidotus zarudnyi (Birula, 1900)

Kovařík, František & Fet, Victor, 2006, Taxonomic position of the genus Sassanidotus Farzanpay, 1987 (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Euscorpius 39 (38), pp. 1-9 : 4

Sassanidotus zarudnyi (Birula, 1900)

( Figs. 1 , 3–5 , Table 1 )

Buthus (Buthus) zarudnyi Birula, 1900a: 11 ; Birula, 1917: 214.

Buthus zarudnyi: Birula, 1903: 70 .

Buthus (Buthus) zarudnyi zarudnyi: Birula, 1917: 240 .

Mesobuthus zarudnyi: Vachon, 1950: 153 (1952: 325) ; Vachon, 1958: 141; Habibi, 1971: 44; Pérez, 1974: 25; Fet, 1980: 168; Farzanpay, 1988: 39; Kovařík, 1998: 115.

Mesobuthus zarudnyi zarudnyi: Vachon, 1966: 213 ; Kovařík, 1997: 49.

Sassanidothus zarudnyi: Farzanpay, 1987: 161 ; Farzanpay, 1988: 41; Kovařík, 1993: 203; Fet & Lowe, 2000: 222.

Sassanidothus zarudnyi zarudnyi: Fet & Lowe, 2000: 223 .

Type locality and type repository. Neizar , Seistan, Iran, ZISP .

Holotype. Iran, Teheran, Persia , 1♂ (holotype), coll. N. A. Zarudny, lost (see below).

Material examined. ( Figs. 3–5 ). Iran, 1 ♂, 21– 24.V.1898, Seistan, Neizar, coll. N. A. Zarudny, ZISP No. 599, deignated here as neotype (see below) .

Diagnosis: Total length of the examined male 34.4 mm. Fingers of pedipalps flexed proximally. Movable finger of pedipalp bears 11 rows of granules, all without external and with internal granules. Trichobothria db and est situated next to each other, approximately equidistant from esb and eb ( Fig. 1 ). Intermediate carinae of metasomal segment II may reach three-quarters of segment length; metasomal segment III bears in place of intermediate carinae only about 10 posteriorly situated irregular granules; metasomal segment IV with lateral surface sparsely covered by granules that do not form rows or carinae. Tarsomere I of legs I to III with bristlecombs. Pectinal teeth number 22. Telson bulbous.

Distribution. Iran (Birula, 1900a: 11).

Comments: The holotype from Teheran, published by Birula (1900a), is absent from the collection of the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University (K. M. Mikhailov, pers. comm., April 2006), and therefore we consider it to be lost. The record and brief description of the male specimen from Seistan, which we examined, was published by the same author later (Birula, 1903: 70). Birula (1903) noted that there were no diagnostic differences (even at the level of subspecies) between the Teheran and Seistan males. Following Article 75 of the Code (ICZN, 1999), we designate here the Seistan male (ZISP 599) as a neotype. At the same time, Birula described Buthus zarudnyi gracilis (Birula, 1900) and B. z. sarghadensis Birula, 1903 as two separate subspecies.

Figures

Figure 3: Sassanidotus zarudnyi (Birula, 1900), male neotype, dorsal aspect.

Figure 4: Sassanidotus zarudnyi (Birula, 1900), male neotype, ventral aspect.

Figure 5: Sassanidotus zarudnyi (Birula, 1900), male neotype, label.

Figures 1–2: Chela of pedipalp showing external trichobothria. 1. Sassanidotus zarudnyi (Birula, 1900), male neotype. 2. Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900), female holotype.