Scorpions of the Horn of Africa (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Part XXVI. Records of Hottentotta polystictus (Pocock, 1896), with descriptions of H. haudensis sp. n. and H. nigrimontanus sp. n. (Buthidae) from Somaliland Author Kovařík, František Author Lowe, Graeme text Euscorpius 2021 330 1 28 journal article 10.5281/zenodo.5741758 1536-9307 5741758 8BF94E81-135A-46E9-90D5-96059074C787 Genus Hottentotta Birula, 1908 ( Figures 1–150 , Tables 1–2 ) http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:71BE5C50- A22A-4F06-9B54-449B203AD78F Hottentotta : Fet & Lowe, 2000: 133–144 (complete reference and synonymy list until 1998); KovařÍk & Ojanguren Affilastro, 2013: 159–180, figs. 942–1250 (complete reference and synonymy list until 2013); KovařÍk et al., 2018b: 1–14, figs. 1–76, tab. 1; KovařÍk et al., 2019c: 1–30, figs. 2, 5–178, tabs. 1–3. TYPE SPECIES . Scorpio hottentotta Fabricius, 1787 . DIAGNOSIS. Medium to large buthids, adults 27–130 mm . Carapace subrectangular, with distinct carinae, entire dorsal surface nearly planar, weakly emarginate anteriorly; ocular tubercle with well-developed median eyes; five pairs of lateral eyes in ‘ type 5’ pattern (Loria & Prendini, 2014). Sternum type 1 (Soleglad & Fet, 2003), triangular in shape. Pectines long, pectinal tooth counts ♂ 16–43, ♀ 13–38, fulcra present. Hemispermatophore flagelliform, capsule with 3-lobed sperm hemiduct and hook-like basal lobe, flagellum folded with pars recta and pars reflecta, pars recta arising from base of sperm hemiduct, trunk elongate. Tergites I–VI granular, with three carinae; tergite VII with 5 carinae. Sternite III with two granulated lateral stridulatory areas, which may be reduced in some species (e. g. in H. pachyurus and H. trilineatus ). Sternites III–IV with slit-like spiracles. Metasoma elongate, segment I with 10 carinae, segments II-IV with 8–10 carinae; ventrolateral carinae of metasoma V with granules more or less equal in size, never lobate; posterior margins of tergite VII and metasoma I–III with fine fringes of microsetae. Telson vesicle bulbous, coarsely and finely granulate, without subaculear denticle. Chelicerae with typical buthid pattern of dentition (Vachon, 1963), fixed finger armed with two denticles on ventral surface. Pedipalps orthobothriotaxic, type A-β (Vachon, 1974, 1975), femur petite d 2 dorsal, patella trichobothrium d 3 located between dorsomedian and dorsointernal carinae; chela db usually located between est and et , or level with est , rarely between est and esb ; chela eb located clearly on pedipalp fixed finger. Dentate margin of pedipalp chela movable finger with distinct denticles forming 11–16 linear, non-imbricated rows, each flanked by a single external and internal accessory denticle; 4–6 terminal and one basal terminal denticles. Legs III and IV with well-developed tibial spurs, first and second tarsomeres of all legs with paired ventral macrosetae. Figures 1–2 : Hottentotta polystictus , male from locality 17ST (1) and female from locality 17SD (2) in vivo habitus. REMARKS ON HEMISPERMATOPHORES.We examined and compared 2 hemispermatophores from H. haudensis sp. n. ( paratype 1198), 6 hemispermatophores from H. nigrimontanus s p. n. ( paratypes 1337, 1399 and 1547), and 8 hemispermatophores from a third closely related species, H . polystictus ( Pocock, 1896 ) (4 individuals, 1296, 1302, 1329 and 1335). Hemispermatophores from these species were similar to each other in their structural features and proportions, and we did not detect interspecies differences that could serve as diagnostic characters. Vachon & Stockmann (1968: 85–87) also reported a lack of reliable differences between hemispermatophores from different species of Hottentotta in sub-Saharan Africa. They remarked that intraspecific variation in some cases could be as great as interspecific variation. Allowing for variation, the shapes of the sperm hemiduct lobes, and the short, hook-like form of the basal lobe of the three species studied here are generally consistent with previously described hemispermatophore capsule lobes in the genus Hottentotta (from H . buchariensis (Birula, 1897) , H . conspersus (Thorell, 1876) , H . gentili (Pallary, 1924) , H . hottentotta (Fabricius, 1787) , H . judaicus (Simon, 1872) , H . minax occidentalis (Vachon & Stockmann, 1968) , H . pellucidus Lowe, 2010 , H. polystictus ( Pocock, 1896 ) , H . saulcyi (Simon, 1880) , H . saxinatans Lowe, 2010 , H . tamulus (Fabricius, 1798) and H . trilineatus (Peters, 1861) ; Levy & Amitai, 1980 ; Lowe, 2010 ; Vachon, 1940a , 1940 b, 1952, 1958; Vachon & Stockmann, 1968). In particular, the capsule lobes in our samples of H. polystictus closely matched the lobe profiles for this species illustrated by Vachon (1940a: 256 , fig. 57).