Scorpion Fauna And Morphological Variation Of Some Species In Northern China (Chelicerata: Arachnida)

This dissertation deals with fauna and morphological variation studies on the Scorpiones of northern China. In northern China, there is only Buthidae, therefore, the entire work divided into the three parts of conclusions as follows:1 The general account introduces status of classification, morphological characters, phylogenetic research, biology and biogeography of Buthidae; the natural geography information about northern China; the development and applyment of morphological statistical analysis.2 Identification of species and analysis of fauna in northern China were done. About 2500 specimens were collected from 79 counties in northern China, and identification, descriptions and illustrations were obtained by examining all these specimens.10 species and subspecies which have been known to northern China belong to 4 genera and 1 family. Two new species, belonging to the genus Mesobuthus, were descriped and three known species were redescribed using mordern identification characters for the first time, including the very important economic species Mesobuthus eupeus;and the faunistic characters on Scorpiones from northern China were discussed, with the results that:the Palaearctic components are dominant, and the endemic species of Mongolia-Xinjiang are concentrated in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.3 Analyses of morphological variation about two species Mesobuthus martensii and Mesobuthus eupeus were studied using statistical methods.15 ratios were got after measuring 24 characters among 622 specimens, which were used in the analyses. The result is that:the intraspecies morphological variations in Mesobuthus martensii and Mesobuthus eupeus are not large, morphological variations are under the species level.All the specimens are deposited in the Museum of Hebei University (MHBU).