Scorpions of the Horn of Africa (Arachnida Scorpiones) Part XXIII Buthus (Buthidae), with description of two new species Author Kovařík, František Department of Zoology, Charles University, ViničnÁ 7, CZ- 128 44 Praha 2, Czech Republic www.scorpio.cz Author Šťáhlavský, František Department of Zoology, Charles University, ViničnÁ 7, CZ- 128 44 Praha 2, Czech Republic www.scorpio.cz Author Elmi, Hassan Sh Abdirahman Amoud University, Borama, Republic of Somaliland text Euscorpius 2020 2020-07-12 307 1 32 journal article 6758 10.5281/zenodo.4648379 2883d728-9246-4b55-b0be-2b774fedcc7d 1536-9307 4648379 881B2577-F367-469A-AB81-8AF742E7D00C Buthus zeylensis Pocock, 1900 , stat. n. ( Figures 101 , 140–175 , 184–185, 190 , 194, 207–209 , 210, Tables 2–3 ) Buthus occitanus zeylensis Pocock, 1900: 56–57 . Buthus occitanus berberensis (in part): Levy & Amitai, 1980: 16 , 21 ; Fet & Lowe, 2000: 95 (complete references list until 1998). Buthus berberensis : Lourenço, 2008: 46 ; Sousa et al., 2017: 38 (in part). TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE REPOSITORY. Somaliland, Zeyla; BMNH . MATERIAL EXAMINED. Somaliland , Gerissa , 10°36'01"N 43°26'07"E , 245 m a. s. l. ( Locality No. 19SH = 17ST), 11.- 12.IX.2017 , 22♂ 7♀ 21juvs. ( Nos. 1294, 1295, 1297), FKCP , 1♂ 1♀ , RTOC , 3.VII.2019 , 8♂ 3♀ 12juvs. (No. 1686 ) , FKCP , leg. F. KovařÍk . DIAGNOSIS. Total length 37–54 mm . Base color yellow dark pattern reduced; telson brown; chelicerae pale yellow without reticulation. Pedipalp movable fingers bear 10–11 rows of granules, with 12 outer and inner denticles and fixed finger with 10–11 outer and inner denticles. Chela of pedipalp narrower in male, its length to width ratio 3.4–3.6 in females and 4.1–4.3 in males. Telson bulbous, with aculeus shorter than vesicle. Pectinal teeth number 25–29 in females and 28–35 in males. COMMENTS. Levy & Amitai (1980: 21) synonymized Buthus occitanus zeylensis Pocock, 1900 with Buthus occitanus berberensis Pocock, 1900 . They argued that “examination of Pocock´s types and of additional material from Somalia showed that these two forms are in fact the two sexes of the same subspecies, the first the male, the second the female.” We studied in detail a large collection of Somaliland specimens collected during expeditions of 2011–2019; this study, including cytogenetic and DNA analysis, confirmed that these two taxa are valid species. Here, we restore Buthus occitanus zeylensis Pocock, 1900 from synonymy and elevate it to species rank. COMMENTS ON LOCALITIES AND LIFE STRATEGY. In 2019, two of us (FK, HE) visited the city of Zeyla, the type locality of Buthus zeylensis Pocock, 1900 . It is an extremely hot place, with heavily salted soils. We collected scorpions several km from the city ( 11°19'31.2"N 43°22'16.9"E ) and found there Hottentotta polystictus (Pocock, 1896) , Microbuthus litoralis (Pavesi, 1885) (first record for Somaliland), Orthochirus afar KovařÍk et Lowe, 2016 and Parabuthus granimanus Pocock, 1895 (topotypes) but no Buthus specimens. Buthus zeylensis is common in Gerissa, a very hot, sandy semidesert area ( Fig. 101 ) where we recorded also H. polystictus , O. afar , and P. granimanus , but also Compsobuthus somalilandus KovařÍk, 2012 , Gint gubanensis KovařÍk et al., 2018 ( type locality), and Neobuthus gubanensis KovařÍk et al., 2018 ( type locality).