Hysterochelifer nepalensis Beier, 1974

Dashdamirov, Selvin, 2006, A new species of the false­scorpion family Cheliferidae from Thailand, with remarks on Ancistrochelifer and Metachelifer (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones), Zootaxa 1325, pp. 347-362 : 357-358

Revalidation of Hysterochelifer nepalensis Beier, 1974 and its transfer, together with Dactylochelifer macrotuberculatus Krumpal, 1987 , to Metachelifer

Beier (1974) described Hysterochelifer nepalensis from material taken from central Nepal. It had since been repeatedly reported from various parts of Nepal ( Schawaller 1983, 1987, 1991) until Schawaller (1994) synonymized it with H. orientalis Beier, 1967 . A reexamination of the type material of H. nepalensis (in NHMW), however, shows this synonymy to be wrong. For example, H. nepalensis differs from congeners in structure of the coxal sac with its atrium, of the subterminal seta and of the lateral claw of male tarsus I. In addition, the conformation of the male genitalia (structure of the lateral rods) and the presence of three cribriform plates in females clearly warrant a placement of this species in the genus Metachelifer .

As regards the identity of Metachelifer hyatti Ćurčić, 1980 , Schawaller (1991) synonymized this species with Hysterochelifer nepalensis only upon a restudy of the holotype as compared to the abundant, partly topotypic material. Had he not missed Dactylochelifer macrotuberculatus Krumpal, 1987 , described from Nepal as well ( Krumpal 1987), he could have not only identified this species in his own material ( Schawaller 1991), but he might have also noticed that it actually represented the genus Metachelifer .

To facilitate future work on this difficult genus, brief redescriptions of both M. nepalensis and M. macrotuberculatus are given below. This represents the following new combinations: Metachelifer nepalensis ( Beier, 1974) , nom. revalid. & comb. n. ex Hysterochelifer Chamberlin, 1932 ; Metachelifer macrotuberculatus ( Krumpal, 1987) , comb. n. ex Dactylochelifer Beier, 1932 .

Metachelifer thus currently comprises three species. Their distribution ( M. duboscqui Redikorzev, 1938 , the type­species from Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam—see Redikorzev (1938) and Beier (1951); M. macrotuberculatus and M. nepalensis , both from low­ to mid­montane Nepal below 3500 m—see Beier (1974), Krumpal (1987) and Schawaller (1991)) also shows that, like Ancistrochelifer , the genus Metachelifer can be considered as typically Oriental.