The scorpion collections (Arachnida, Scorpiones) held in the Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali of Turin (Italy)

2012·5.4 MB·English

by  Alberto Chiarle

2
ArachnologischeMitteilungen43:17-23 Nuremberg,July2012
The scorpion collections (Arachnida,Scorpiones) held in the Museo Regionale di
Scienze Naturali ofTurin (Italy)
Alberto Chiarle,Frantisek Kovarik,Lisa Levi & Elena Gavetti
doi;10.5431/aramit4307
Abstract:DataandconsiderationsaboutthehistoryandcontentsofthescorpioncollectionhousedintheMuseo
RegionalediScienzeNaturaliofTurin(MRSN)arereported.Informationontypematerialandimportanthistorical
specimensareprovided,aswell as biographical notesaboutthemajorzoologistsofthe museum.
Keywords:Borelli,MZUT,MRSN,scorpiology,Turin collection history
In 1978 the public administration of the Regione themuseumcollectionswereneglected.Specimensin
Piemonte founded the ‘Museo Regionale di Scienze ethanolsufferedandexchanges,loans andsystematic
Naturali’(MRSN)inTurin. Since 1980,thezoologi- studiesonspecimenswereinterrupted.In1968,under
cal treasures kept by the Zoological Museum ofthe ProfessorUmberto Parenti’s guidance and thanks to
TurinUniversity(MZUT)havebeenentrustedtothe the curators, the MZUTwas reorganized.
MRSN. The MZUT is one ofthe oldest and most Since 1980alargenumberoftransfershavetaken
importantItalianuniversitymuseums.Itwasfounded place involving all the collections.
in 1805, during the French occupation, merging the
collections ofthe former Royal museum ofnatural The scorpioncollection heldintheTurinmuseum is
history and of the ‘Reale Accademia delle Scienze quitelargeandhistoricallyimportant.Thecollection
diTorino’. Since the middle ofthe 19th centurythe dates back to the second half of the 19th century
museumbegantoacquireimportantandrarematerial and reflects the global perspective ofthe institution
fromallovertheworld.Longanddifficultexpeditions andthe contribution ofmanyeminentzoologists. In
were organized by the museum as well as byprivate this first attemptwe review the scorpion collections
researchers. During the 20th century the collections andillustrate the present situationofthis interesting
were enriched by the activities ofthe museum’s re- material - neglected for far too long -which is still
search staff, by exchanges and gifts from other spe- neededbyspecialistsfordescribingnewspeciesfrom
cialists andfromtravellers.Inthefirstdecades ofthe all over theworld.
20thcenturythemuseum’szoologicalresearchstarted
to shiftits focus towards histologyandgenetics, and MaterialandMethods
the collections lost theirprimaryrole. Weusedthreedifferentsourcestoreviewthescorpion
MZUT
In 1936the wasmovedintothe‘Ospedale collections,assesstheirscientificvalueandtheactivi-
MaggiorediSanGiovanniBattista’.Hereworkbegan tieswithin these collections over theyears.
to rearrange the large amount ofmaterial; then in a
poor state ofconservation, due to the partial lack of Publications
conserving fluid and the fading (or loss) ofseveral Much of the historical material was published in
labels. Interesting material and documentswere lost expedition reports orin scientificjournals, mainlyin
orirreparablydamaged(TORTONESE1957).Between theMuseumreview,‘BoUettinodeiMuseidiZoologia
1950 and 1967, notwithstanding their importance. e di Anatomia Comparata della Regia Universita di
Torino’,butalsoinrenownedItalianandinternational
publications.
AlbertoCHIARLE,LisaLEVI,ElenaGAVETTI,MuseoRegionaledi
ScienzeNaturalidiTorino,ViaGiolitti36,10134,Torino,Italy. Thehistoricalcatalogues
E-Mail:[email protected],[email protected],elena.
[email protected] Two kinds ofcatalogues are present in the museum:
FrantisekKOVARIK,P.O.Box27,CZ-14501,Praha45,Michle,Czech theolderhandwrittencatalogueswhichare,however,
Republic.E.Mail:[email protected] partially incomplete, and a recent one, typewritten
submitted:15.12.20i1;accepted:15.3.2012;onlineeady:8.6.201 and then mimeographed. The old loan forms and
18 A.Chiorle,F.Kovarfk,LLevi&E.Gavetti
significant correspondence between
Oceania Nodata
specialists and curators proved to be 1% / 2%
veryusefulinverifyingthe collection
data.
In the period 1975-1978 these
catalogues, ‘Cataloghi del Museo
e Istituto di Zoologia sistematica
dell’UniversitadiTorino’,weredrawn
SouthAmerica
up for most zoological groups and 24%
were sent to the most important
museums anduniversities alloverthe
world.Inthiswaytheexceptionalhe-
ritageofthemuseumbecameavailable
againtotheinternationalcommunity.
Thanks to the richness in historical NorthA%merica
7
material and type specimens from
various countries there was an active
international loan correspondence.
CentralAmerica
In the old museum archives we
found that more than 350 specialists
covering all groups received material
on loan for scientific revision and Fig.l:Numberofscorpion lots(MZUTcollection)foreachcontinent.
enthusiasticallylearntthathistorically
importantspecimenswerenotlost,buteasilyavailable. collections - is keeping track of the high number
In the 1970s the scorpion collection was reorga- ofspecimen loans all over the world, some ofwhich
nized,somematerialthathaddriedoutwasdiscarded wereneverreturnedorwereseriouslydamagedduring
and a new inventory number (Sc. ###), referring to shipment.
species lots,was used for the catalogue ofthe extant
material. By ‘species lots’, we mean one or more Thescientificvalueofthescorpion collection
MZUT
specimens ofthe same species storedinthe samevial The historical scorpion collection ofthe is
orjar. quite large with more than 3,300 specimens divided
into777lotscomprisingabout300species,67genera,
Electronicdatabase and 11 families from aUcontinents,exceptAntarcti-
Since 1997 all the invertebrate collections havebeen ca. The majority ofthe specimens are preserved in
We
recorded in an electronic database. Original label ethanol. periodically undertake a survey ofthe
informationwasbasicallycopied,exceptthatcountry collections, checking the conservation ofthe speci-
names were added or changed according to current mens. In general, the samples are in good condition
usage and minoremendationswere made forhomo- and the original labels are mostly present, although
geneity ofstyle. Unfortunately, old specimens often localitydata are often unclear orlacking.
bear inadequate locality data.The extensive work of The majority of the lots are from Africa (246)
comparing the old manuscript catalogue data with andSouthAmerica(183);howeverEurope(120) and
electronic database is still in progress; moreover it Asia (99) are also well represented. Less numerous
doesnotyetcontainalltheinformationandsystematic are the samples from North America (52), Central
notes made bythe specialists. America (50) and Oceania (11) (Fig. 1). Sixteen
samples are without data. With regard to Africa,
Results the states yielding the larger numbers of samples
We found numerous discrepancies when comparing are South Africa (44), Libya (40), Eritrea (38), and
the catalogueswith the real status ofthe collections: Somalia (36). South America is well represented by
e.g. number ofspecimens in each tube, registration Ecuador (45), Argentina (36) and Chile (24). Most
numbers, state ofconservation and notes about lo- ofthe North American samples come from Mexico
calities. A problem - common to several museum (39) while with regard to Europe, the state with the
ScorpioncollectionottheTurinMuseum 19
maximum numberofsamples (91) is Italy. and determined by BORELLI (1899b). Moreover, he
The work of many specialists over a period of visitedseverallocalitiesinLibya:theBenghaziplain,
nearly200years,describingnewspeciesfromallover Gheminez, Sidi-Chelan and Coefia. Rich material
the world, explains the remarkable number oftypes wascollectedbyFestainPalestine,Rhodes(BORELLI
that makes the Turin Museum collections ofgreat 1913a) andItaly. BORELLI (1924) studied the mate-
scientificsignificance.Typematerialcanbeattributed rialfrom the expeditions ofEnrico Festa and named
to 26 species or subspecies, comprising important somenewspecies afterhim (forexample Tityusfestae
samples studied by Borelli at the beginning ofthe Borelli, 1899 (Fig. 2b), Chactasfestae Borelli, 1899
20th century(Tab. 1). (Fig. 2c) andAnanterisfestaeBorelli, 1899).
We also recentlyrelocated the syntypes ofTityus Filippo Silvestri (1873-1949) was an Italian
argentinusBorelli, 1899 (Fig.2a)-whichwaspresu- entomologist and professor in Portici (Naples). Du-
medformanyyearstobelost(cfFET&LoWE2000) ring his travels in Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia
- the holotype ofUroplectessilvestrii Borelli, 1913 = (1893-1896) he collected several specimens. From
Butheoloidessihestrii(Borelli, 1913)andtheholotype the 1912-1913 expedition in Olokemeji and Lagos
&
ofHemiscorpius tellinii Borelli, 1904 (KOVAWK (Nigeria) he sent more than 30 lots ofscorpions to
MAZUCH 2011). theTurin museum (BORELLI 1913b); one ofwhich
is UroplectessilvestriiBioreWi, 1913.BORELLI (1901a)
Scientistsandcollectors describedthe specimens collectedbySilvestri,provi-
The collection gained much significance thanks ding an important contribution to the knowledge of
to the extensive scientific work ofAlfredo Borelli scorpionfaunafromSouthAmericaand,inparticular,
(1858-1943).Hecollectedneworimportantspecies, ofthetillthenpoorly-knownArgentineanscorpions.
examined collections from all over the world for his Among the scorpions collected there are important
systematic andtaxonomic studies,includingsamples type specimens such as Tityus uruguayensis Borelli,
collected by famous scientists and travellers. His 1901 (Fig.2d)and TityusmattogrossensisBoreUi,1901
reputation as a scorpiologistwas such, that many of (Fig. 2e).
themajorspecialistsin19thcenturyarachnologywere The following scientists also contributed to the
correspondingwith him to seek advice, to exchange scorpion collection inTurin and merit being briefly
specimens andto sendhim copies oftheirownwork noted. Aleksei Birula (1864-1937), director of St.
forcomments. Petersburg Zoological Museum, was the author of
Borelli focused his attention on exotic fauna as the first bookon Russian scorpions (BiRULA 1917).
well (Borelli 1900) and explored South America BiruladonatedanddeterminedTurinspecimensfrom
(Argentina,ParaguayandBolivia) in 1893-94andin Turkmenistan, Pakistan,Uzbekistan,Armenia, Iran,
1895-96 (Borelli 1899a).Hewasanentomologist, Azerbaijan and China.
zoologist and arachnologist: his large entomological The German naturalist Karl Kraepelin (1848-
collection andhis sixty-sevenpapersonDermaptera 1915), was a specialist in the study of scorpions,
arewell known (ZAVATTARI 1943). More than sixty centipedes, spiders and solpugids. He compared
ofthe scorpion labels bear Borelli’s name, either as several ofBorelli’s scorpions with specimens in the
collector,donor,authororidentifier.Borellipublished ‘Naturhistorisches Museum Hamburg’ (BORELLI
35 papers describing new species and identifying 1899b, 1901a).Numerous specieswere named in his
material from Italian and foreign countries. He was honour e.g. lurus kraepelini von Ubisch, 1922 and
in touch with renowned specialists worldwide and Tityus kraepeliniBorelli, 1899 (a synonym of Tityus
the collectionoftheTurin museumincreasedthanks pugilatorVocock^ 1898).
to exchanges and donations. Moreover, he collected ReginaldInnesPocock(1863-1947)wasaBritish
vertebrates, especially during his South American zoologist and assistant at the British Museum of
expeditions. Natural History. POCOCK (1901) compared several
An important zoologist who worked with Bo- specimens,sentbyBorelli,withthetypespecimensin
relli was Enrico Festa (1868-1939), assistant at the theLondonmuseum.Severalimportantspeciesfrom
MZUTandanaturalistwhotravelledextensivelyand IndiaandAfricawere senttohimfordetermination.
collected in South America and the Mediterranean Adolfo Ducke (1876-1959) was an entomological
basin.Amongthe scorpions collected in Ecuadorby technician (ObRECHT &HUBER 1993) in the Para
Festa there are important type specimens, studied Museum (Brazil). Ducke and Francisco Diaz da
20 A.Chiarle,F.Kovank,LLevi&E.Gavetti
Fig.2:TypespecimensoftheMZUTscorpioncollection;a.TityusargentinusBorelli,1899;b.ChactasfestaeBorelli,
1899;c.TityusfestaeBorelli,1899;d.TityusmattogmssensisBorelli,1901;e.TityusuruguayensisBorelli,1901;
f.RhopalurusrochaeBorelli,1910.
Rocha from Rocha Museum sent several Brazilian Many specimens collected in the surroundings
specimens to Borelli. Amongthem BORELLI (1910) ofCape Town, South Africa, were sent byWilliam
discovered two new species, Tityus ducket Borelli, Frederick Purcell (1866-1919), a South African
1910 (a synonym ofTityus sihestris Pocock, 1897) arachnologist.HebecameFirstAssistantintheSouth
and Rhopalurus rochaeBorelli, 1910 (Fig. 2f). AfricanMuseumin 1896. Retiringin 1905,he spent
PaoloMagretti (1854-1913), a specialist on ants, the rest of his life collecting arachnids and insects
collected in eastern Sudan and Eritrea (SORDELLI (IziKO South African Museum 2011).
1914). All of his scorpion samples - described by About 25 lots came from Costa Rica as a gift of
Borelli(1901b)—werecollectedinthesurroundings Paul (Paolo) Biolley (1862-1908), naturalist ofthe
ofKeren (Eritrea) in 1883. Museo Nacional in SanJose’. He studied the local
invertebratefauna;increasingthegeneralknowledge
ScorpioncollectionattheTurinMuseum 21
& correct
Kovari'k their
documentation. Status P u P .. <Puh p p
Ph o Ph O Ph Ph O Ph &
unpubl.,specimens, &H E. ou ^b P toO!J ^bS P <U toCjD pQ^QJcr^OH ^^ P& <&u bouOJe tOOjJ
(Kovafik typeassociated F^ K-1 Ph F^- h-1 Ph F^ F^ hJ h-1 PLh Ph
of
and
number
undertaken
labels
Legit/Don ÖJD
‘i
been effective original VChS
UIp
CO CO
has the
the
on
impact
revision
o
could information u OPJ
V0h
preliminary
p o CP
the"*',' of bJD bPJD pT
ttAabhlee. mwairktehd dltaaucoek Locality <CPOucPJT .'I9PTSr uSoci QVph CVP^1Oh rH PP PUIi &5P-h Vph
ians types, bJD C2oP UPOO ^P P•Ppd j^j PP U.§9r o 4o->' o''
specimensof pp PP CO. CQ CO CO
results *
kind
the
of proper CO
catalogues;
particularthe
old o o
the in enter OJ o^ ON V<Ohu PP pp
PP s;
in but
always Species
collection. listed S
not
as collection,
can
material, <:s I I
we
whole §
MZUT/MRSN is s
typethe present, ;s 'S ;s ;s § S
of
the the At cq ^5^
in of
review
errors.
material
today) <u
of further any Family 'p
type(as 1A). and ipp
pp
201
contents
Scorpion Sc.
nomenclature
1; Total Mazuch N.cat. t^ PO0pi-0
Tab.
22 A.Chiarle,F.Kovorfk,LLevi&E.Gavetti
about Costa Rica, and in parti-
CoD cularthewesterncoastofCocos
ex
Island(COGNETTIDEMARTIIS
o
1908).
o
& Oh TAe Museo Regionale di Scienze
o Naturali (MRSN), Collection
"o H H H t<ju 'o The most recent scorpion ac-
p:
quisitions in the ‘Museo Re-
gionale di Scienze Naturali’
(MRSN) as oftoday consist of
CO
122 specimens, 59 tubes and 27
bß bJD ON
species belonging to 16 genera
S and 6 families. Except for the
o
CO £: u U CO Q Italian and Greek specimens
of the genus Euscorpius^ the
otherspecimensaremainlyfrom
Vh South America (collected by C.
ccS
CCJD Bordon, M. Etonti and Cei
0 ccS_, J. )
c5^ and Africa, in particular Mada-
c^ 03
u o gascar(collectedbyF.Andreone
bGc^JD <cCcSJ andC.Duval).Twotype species
(U W Q;;-3H are present: Tityobuthus lucileae
1 J'Ibhjß C13 COJ XoT Louren9o,1996and Orobothriu-
C§cCdO^0 •Ö< oabd'Jß dVCOOhJJ <uCoiD iarunnsgdsdpce.oslncl.r,eaitgbhueeedsl.batyteJrosceurAre.ntOlcyhboea-
Conclusions
The‘MuseoRegionalediScien-
\o
ON ze Naturali’ofTurin,heirto the
ON
CO prestigious Zoological Museum
ON 0-) <u ofTurin University, maintains
XcOS cOS the important role of ensuring
(U OCJ oCJ theconservationandavailability
vo-i
PQ G G c ofthesecollections.Thescorpion
S Dh Qh si collection needs to be revised
S cc CD Co
• § S and the nomenclature must be
s; •S .^ updated in order to obtain the
cs correct number of species and
S .o -SCC5 -SC c> specimens. Large amounts of
04 g
O O O
the material have already been
identified, although there are
"c2i still some jars to be sorted and
'Oo <ouS examined; among them a rich
Qh 72
Voh collection made bythe entomo-
o
CCOJ pq logists C. Bordon (Venezuela)
and M. Etonti (Greece,Turkey,
Peru,Chile).Thisworkwillpro-
ceed so long as the funding and
human resources are available.
ScorpioncollectionottheTurinMuseum 23
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BiRULA A.A. (1917): Fauna Rossii I sopredernykh stran Cirenaica.XVI. Scorpioni e Solifughi.-Bollettino del
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muzeya Imperatorskoi [since 1917 - Rossiiskoi]. - UniversitadiTorino39 (26): 1-16
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Silvestri nella RepubblicaArgentinae regionivicine.- IziKO SouthAfricanMuseum (2011):W.F.Purcell.
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deirUniversitadiTorino 16 (382): 1
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Festaneirisoladi Rodi.-BollettinodeiMuseidizoo- TORTONESEE.(1957):VenticinqueannidivitadelMuseo
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Torino28 (675): 1-3 27pp.
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neirAfricaoccidental.-Bollettino del Laboratorio di SocietaEntomologicaItaliana22: 125-133
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