[Another Record of a Small Whip Scorpion in California]
M. L. MOLES
In April, 1916, Dr. W. A. Hilton collected some small whip-scorpions in the Pomona College Park at Claremont. These creatures were without eyes and yet they seemed to avoid forceps. They were able to run backwards or forwards with equal ease. On examination it was found that there were long hairs on the legs such as shown in the figure. Other specimens were afterwards found in one of the nearby canyons, and two specimens in the college collection were marked “C. Metz, in the mountains near Claremont.”
Upon looking through the literature the species was determined to be Trithyreus pentapeltis Cook. In 1899 Dr. Hubbard collected some at Palm Springs under stones in the canyon near the stream. Those which we have found this year were under the dried oak leaves some distance from water. Cook gave the generic name Hubbardia which has not been sustained.
The following are the measurements of two types of the twenty or more specimens found.
Measurements—supposed Male:
Length of whole body, 7.5 mm.
Length of cephalothorax, 2 mm.
Length of abdomen, 3 mm.
Length of tail, 2.5 mm.
Length of first leg, 8 mm.
Length of maxillæ, 1.5 mm.
Width of abdomen, 1 mm.
Width of cephalothorax, 8 mm.
Measurements—Supposed Female and Juvenile, Fig. 1:
Length of whole body, 4.5 mm.
Length of cephalothorax, 1.5 mm.
Length of abdomen, 2 mm.
Length of tail, 1 mm.
Length of first leg, 5.5 mm.
Length of maxillæ, 2 mm.
Width of cephalothorax, 6 mm.
Width of abdomen, 1 mm.
Color of supposed Male—Cephalothorax and maxillæ, dark reddish brown. Abdomen and legs light yellow brown.
Color of supposed Female and Juvenile—All parts bright yellow brown.
Cephalothorax suboval, upper margin strongly concave at the sides and tapering to a point at the median line. Sides convex at upper edge; lower margin strongly convex. The cephalothorax is strongly chitinized, showing two small oval spots. The small suboval area between the chitinized cephalothorax and the abdomen is soft with five chitinized plates.