Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2026-04-16
Page range: 509-528
Abstract views: 89
PDF downloaded: 1

Taxonomic notes on the Indian whip scorpions (Arachnida: Thelyphonida)

Zoological Survey of India; Prani Vigyan Bhawan; M-Block; New Alipore; Kolkata – 700053; West Bengal; India.
Zoological Survey of India; Prani Vigyan Bhawan; M-Block; New Alipore; Kolkata – 700053; West Bengal; India.
Thelyphonida Arachnid distribution India lectotype taxonomy thelyphonid type specimens

Abstract

Thelyphonids are a little-explored group of arachnids in India. The present study aims to provide a comprehensive taxonomic account of four whip scorpion species reported from India along with their current distribution map. Lectotypes are designated for Hypoctonus stoliczkae Gravely, 1912 and Uroproctus assamensis (Stoliczka, 1869) in order to stabilize their taxonomic identity.

 

References

  1. Beron, P. (2018) Zoogeographical notes on different orders of Arachnida. In: Beron, P. (Eds.), Zoogeography of Arachnida. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 893–903. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74418-6_11
  2. Biodiversity Heritage Library (2025) Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). BHL Consortium, Washington, D.C. Available from: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ (accessed 15 October 2025)
  3. Borkar, M.R. (2018) First definitive record of a whip scorpion Labochirus tauricornis (Pocock, 1900) from Goa, India: with notes on its morphometry and pedipalp micro-morphology. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10 (7), 11955–11962. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4084.10.7.11955-11962
  4. Butler, A.G. (1872) A monograph of the genus Thelyphonus. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 4, 10 (57), 200–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222937208696676
  5. Butler, A.G. (1873a) Description of several new species of Thelyphonus. Cistula Entomologica, 6, 129–132.
  6. Butler, A.G. (1873b) Answer to Dr. Stoliczka's "Notes on the Indian species of Thelyphonus". Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 4, 12 (68), 114–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222937308680722
  7. Gravely, F.H. (1912) Notes on Pedipalpi in the Collection of the Indian Museum. Part III. Some New and Imperfectly Known Species of Hypoctonus. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 7 (2), 101–107. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v7/i2/1915/163094
  8. Gravely, F.H. (1916) The evolution and distribution of the Indo-Australian Thelyphonidae, with notes on the distinctive characters of various species. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 12 (2), 59–85. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v12/i2/1916/163036
  9. Harvey, M.S. (2003) Catalogue of the smaller arachnid orders of the world: Amblypygi, Uropygi, Schizomida, Palpigradi, Ricinulei and Solifugae. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, 398 pp. https://doi.org/10.1071/9780643090071
  10. Haupt, J. (1996) Revision of East Asian whip scorpions (Arachnida Uropygi Thelyphonida) II. Thailand and adjacent areas. Arthropoda Selecta, 5, 53–65.
  11. International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1999) International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. 4th Edition. International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, London, xxix + 306 pp.
  12. Javed, S.M.M., Rao, K.T., Tampal, F. & Srinivasulu, C. (2009) First record of Thelyphonus sepiaris (Butler 1873) (Uropygi: Thelyphonidae) from Andhra Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 1 (7), 395–397. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2088.395-7
  13. Kayal, M.K., Sen, S. & Ghosh, A. (2025) Fauna of India Checklist: Arthropoda: Arachnida: Uropygi. Version 2.0. Zoological Survey India. Available from: https://zsi.gov.in/checklist/ (accessed 23 December 2025)
  14. Oates, E.W. (1889) On the species of Thelyphonus inhabiting continental India, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 58, 4–19.
  15. Prendini, L. (2025) All genera of the world: Order Thelyphonida (Animalia: Arthropoda: Arachnida). Megataxa, 18 (2), 447–455. https://doi.org/10.11646/megataxa.18.2.7
  16. Pocock, R.I. (1894) Notes on the Thelyphonidae contained in the collection of the British Museum. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 6, 14 (80), 120–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222939408677779
  17. Pocock, R.I. (1899) Diagnoses of some new Indian Arachnida. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 12 (4), 744–753.
  18. Pocock, R.I. (1900a) The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma: Arachnida. Taylor and Francis, London, 279 pp.
  19. Pocock, R.I. (1900b) Some new or little-known Thelyphonidae and Solifugae. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 7, 5 (27), 294–306. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222930008678285
  20. QGIS Development Team (2023) QGIS Geographic Information System. Version 3.40.9. QGIS Association, Bratislava and Lyon. [program]
  21. Rowland, J.M. & Cooke, J.A. (1973) Systematics of the arachnid order Uropygida (= Thelyphonida). Journal of Arachnology, 1, 55–71.
  22. Schneider, C.A., Rasband, W.S. & Eliceiri, K.W. (2012) NIH Image to ImageJ: 25 years of image analysis. Nature methods, 9 (7), 671–675. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.2089
  23. Seraphim, G., Giupponi, A. & Miranda, G.S. (2019) Taxonomy of the thelyphonid genus Typopeltis Pocock, 1894, with proposal of homology of the male gonopod structures (Arachnida, Thelyphonida, Typopeltinae). ZooKeys, 848, 21–39. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.848.32263
  24. Sharma, R.M. & Chandra, K. (2012) First Report of Thelyphonus sepiaris (Butler, 1873) (Arachnida: Uropygi: Thelyphonidae) from Chhattisgarh, Central India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 112 (4), 129–130.
  25. Stoliczka, F. (1869) Contribution towards the knowledge of Indian Arachnoidea. The journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 38 (4), 201–251.
  26. Stoliczka, F. (1873) Notes on the Indian species of Thelyphonus. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 42, 126–143.
  27. Talmale, S.S., Patil, S.R. & Sambath, S. (2012) First report of Thelyphonus sepiaris (Butler, 1873) (Arachnida: Uropygi: Thelyphonidae) from Madhya Pradesh, India. Indian Journal of Arachnology, 1 (1), 163–168.
  28. World Uropygi Catalog (2025) World Uropygi Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern, Bern. Available from: http://wac.nmbe.ch/ (accessed 15 October 2025)

How to Cite

Kayal, M.K. & Sen, S. (2026) Taxonomic notes on the Indian whip scorpions (Arachnida: Thelyphonida). Zootaxa, 5793 (2), 509–528. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5793.2.8