Pseudouroctonus cazieri (Gertsch and Soleglad 1972)

Pseudouroctonus cazieri (Gertsch & Soleglad 1972)

Uroctonus cazieri Gertsch & Soleglad, 1972: 565, 582-584, fig. 30, 31, 131, 132; Soleglad, 1973b: 353; Díaz Najera, 1975: 6, 9.
Vejovis cazieri: Stahnke, 1974: 136 (not Vaejovis cazieri Williams, 1968).
Vaejovis montcazieri Williams, 1980: 52, 76, fig. 55G, 78, 80 [a replacement name for Uroctonus cazieri Gertsch & Soleglad, 1972 (synonymized by Kovarík, 1998: 144)]; Williams & Savary, 1991: 284, fig. 25; Beutelspacher, 2000: 97, 137, 153, map 76.
Pseudouroctonus montcazieri: Stockwell, 1992: 410.
Pseudouroctonus cazieri: Kovarík, 1998: 144; Sissom, 2000:516; Soleglad & Fet, 2003a: 33.

type(s) : Uroctonus cazieri Gertsch & Soleglad, 1972: Female holotype from Mission San Borjas, 1500 ft., Baja California Norte, México, June 20, 1968 (S. C. Williams, M. A. Cazier, etc.) in collection of California Academy of Sciences.

Original Description:
Gertsch & Soleglad, 1972:

"DIAGNOSIS: Medium-sized, smooth, brownish scorpion similar to huachuca, distinguished by following features: total length of male 26.3 mm., of larger female 31.6 mm.; median ocular tubercle situated well in front of middle of carapace; pectinal tooth count of females 12, of males 13; chela stout, with short fingers, and keels weak and mostly smooth; lower margin of movable finger ofchelicera crenulate, with about five weakly rounded lobes; all of chelicera crenulate, with about five weakly rounded lobes; all keels on cauda crenulated or granulated; vesicle lightly inflated in front of sting.
...
COLORATION: Base color ofadults light yellowish brown, of immature specimens much paler. Carapace dusky in front half with faint mottled darker pattern; eye tubercles black. Cauda somewhat darker brown, with keels reddish or black. Chela also darker, with dark reddish fingers and reddish keels. Sternites of preabdomen pale yellow; pectines whitish. Vesicle of sting yellow; sting dark red.
STRUCTURE: Similar in both sexes to those of huachuca in all basic features, unless otherwise indicated. For measurements, see table 6.
Carapace: See figure 131. Carapace quite smooth over most of surface, shiny, with few, weak, inconspicuous granules in posterior median groove and along sides behind ocular triangle; frontal lobes with six reddish bristles, irregularly spaced in holotype. Frontal emargination widely rounded indentation. Ocular tubercle situated back one-third distance between front and posterior margin. Median ocular tubercle small, smooth; median eyes small, 0.2 mm., separated by diameter. Lateral eyes, three; third eye smallest.
Preabdomen: All tergites quite smooth, shiny, posterior ones with weak granulation, especially along hind margins. Tergite VII with dorsal and lateral keels fairly well developed, each provided with about 10 rounded granules giving crenate appearance in side view; intercarinal spaces with few weak granules.
Telson: See figure 132. Vesicle oval, broader than fifth caudal segment, flattened and smooth above, lightly inflated behind in front of sting, with smooth granulation on sides and below, provided with few short hairs. Sting about half as long as vesicle.
Pectines: Of female, median piece twice as broad as long, with wide, shallowly V-shaped emargination on front margin; pectin more than twice as long as median piece (58/23); middle lamellae, eight or nine; pectinal count, 11. Of males, shorter, emarginated median piece and much longer pectin (52/21); middle lamellae, seven or eight; pectinal teeth, 13.
Chelicerae: See figures 30, 31. With basic pattern of mordax group; keel on lower margin of movable finger with irregular crenations, without distinctive dark teeth; keel on fixed finger with three pale teeth near base.
Pedipalps: Keels on femur prominent, armed with rounded granules to give mostly crenulate appearance in lateral view; those on tibia less developed, quite smooth, crenulated; frontal spurs on tibia rounded, with single granule set with long reddish seta. Chela very stout, with movable finger shorter than palm, quite smooth, with most carinae weak and smooth; inner side of palm and area below set with weak, rounded granules; superior carina weakly developed, smooth except for alveolae of weak setae. Keels on fixed and movable fingers with single line of minute denticles, broken into six files by six larger teeth, and flanked by six heavier, triangular teeth.
Walking legs: Legs with sparse covering of reddish bristles and weak spines, with basic features of those of huachuca. Venter of tarsus with two or three fine spines on each side of median line of spinules.."

subsequent accounts:
Williams (1980):

Diagnosis. - Adults to 32 mm long. Base color of cuticle uniform golden-brown. Pectine teeth 10-12 in females, 12 in males. Pedipalp with swollen chela; ratio of movable finger length to carapace length about 0.8; ratio of fixed-finger length to palm length about 0.3; ratio of chela length to palm width about 3.0. Chelicera with ventral margin of movable finger with about 5 weakly developed crenulations; 7 supernumerary granules on movable finger, 6 on fixed finger; fixed finger with trichobothria ip and id midway between finger origin and supernumerary granule 7. Metasoma with ventromedian and ventrolateral keels crenulate; length metasoma segment III approximating width.

distribution: NORTH AMERICA. México (Baja California Norte - Mision San Borja region, known only from type locality).

Published Records: Mexico: Baja California Norte: Mission San Borjas, 1500 ft., June 20, 1968 (S. C. Williams, M. A. Cazier) male and female, subadult female and two males, three immatures.

notes: Gertsch and Soleglad (1972) dedicated this species "to Dr. Mont A. Cazier of Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, who through the years has collected many hundreds of scorpions from arid regions of the United States and Mexico." Stahnke (1974a: 136) transferred Uroctonus cazieri Gertsch & Soleglad, 1972 to the genus Vaejovis; it thus became a secondary junior homonym of Vaejovis cazieri Williams, 1968. The replacement name, Vaejovis montcazieri, was proposed by Williams (1980). Since the species is now listed under Pseudouroctonus, the Gertsch & Soleglad name is no longer a homonym. It has priority as Pseudouroctonus cazieri and Vaejovis montcazieri becomes its junior synonym. Williams (1980) stated, "This species is distinctive within Vaejovis in having small denticles developed along the ventral margin of the movable finger of the chelicera. This character would associate the species with the genus Paruroctonus, however, it appears more similar to Vaejovis rufulus, Vaejovis andreas, Vaejovis lindsayi, and Vaejovis minimus. The small denticles on the chelicerae appear to have developed secondarily and do not appear as evidence of a relationship with Paruroctonus."
This species was originally named Uroctonus cazieri by Gertsch and Soleglad (1972). In 1974, Stahnke placed it in the genus Vaejovis. In so doing, a junior homonym was created because the name Vaejovis cazieri was already occupied by Vaejovis cazieri Williams, a species described from Coahuila, Mexico (Williams 1968d: 12-15). Williams (1980) therefore proposed the name Vaejovis montcazieri as a replacement of the name Vaejovis cazieri (Gertsch and Soleglad), retaining Vaejovis montcazieri Williams in the minimus group of Vaejovis.

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