Scorpions of the Horn of Africa (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Part VII. Parabuthus Pocock, 1890 (Buthidae) with description of P. hamar sp. n. and P. kajibu sp. n. from Ethiopia
Author
Kovařík, František
Author
Lowe, Graeme
Author
Plíšková, Jana
Author
Šťáhlavský, František
text
Euscorpius
2016
228
1
58
journal article
1536-9307
65077794-E810-4C60-B7C1-D19D97295CB4
Parabuthus eritreaensis
Kovařík, 2003
(
Figs. 40–41
,
89
,
174–175
,
189
,
198
,
204
)
Parabuthus eritreaensis
Kovařík, 2003: 142–143
, 159, figs. 10–11, table 2; Kovařík, 2004: 18–19, fig. 6; Kovařík & Whitman, 2005: 110.
TYPE
LOCALITY AND
TYPE
REPOSITORY
.
Eritrea
,
Asmara
env. (see comment below)
;
FKCP
.
TYPE MATERIAL EXAMINED
.
Eritrea
,
Asmara
env.,
1♂
(
holotype
)
1♀
(allotypic
paratype
), 1983, leg.
Dorsak
;
FKCP
.
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL EXAMINED
.
Somalia
,
Gardo
,
Migiurtina
,
V
. 1930
,
1♂
(
Figs. 40–41
, 89,174–175, 189, 198), leg. M. Milano & Luppi,
FKCP
No.
1133;
Run
,
16.VIII.1969
,
1♂
, S.B.S
.,
MZUF
No. 1127.
DIAGNOSIS. Adults from
71.5 mm
(male) to
90 mm
(female) long. Base color uniformly yellow to yellowish brown, only fourth metasomal segment and telson dark. Pectine teeth number
39 in
male and
35–36 in
female. Stridulatory area present on dorsal surface of first to third segments, more pronounced on first and second segments. Metasoma densely hirsute. Movable finger of pedipalp more than twice as long as manus, bearing 13– 15 rows of granules which include both external and internal granules. Manus of pedipalp smooth and very narrow in both sexes, pedipalp chela length/ width ratio
6.13 in
male and
7.23 in
female. Tarsomere I of all legs with bristlecombs.
COMMENTS ABOUT DISTRIBUTION AND
TYPE
LOCALITY
.
We
believe that the
type
locality "
Eritrea
, Asmara env." is incorrect, the
types
were mislabeled and the origin of the
types
is in reality
Somaliland
or
Somalia
(
Puntland
).
There
are three reasons for this opinion
:
1) In
October 2015
the first author visited the vicinity of the Asmara City which is situated at
2300–2450 m
a.s.l. This is too high an altitude for most known scorpion species in the Horn of Africa. At similar high altitudes in the Horn of Africa, only
Hottentotta
specimens were collected by the first author. In the vicinity of Asmara City, only
Hottentotta minax
(L. Koch, 1875)
was collected (
Eritrea
, Asmara env.,
15°20'39.9"N
38°57' 41.6"E
,
2417 m
a.s.l.,
27.X.2015
; and
15°14'42.7"N
38°52'48.6"E
,
2307 m
a.s.l.,
28.X.2015
). During 2011– 2016 expeditions, all Horn of Africa
Parabuthus
specimens were collected below
1741 m
a. s. l. (
P. abyssinicus
30–1457 m
a. s. l.,
P. granimanus
107–896 m
a. s. l.,
P. hamar
sp. n.
373– 1406 m
a. s. l.,
P. heterurus
896–1741 m
a.s.l.,
P. kajibu
sp. n.
918 m
a. s. l., and
P. pallidus
373–1695 m
a. s. l.).
2) According to the labels of the additional non-type specimens of
P. eritreaensis
, two other localities are "
Somalia
, Gardo, Migiurtina" (
Fig. 204
) and "
Somalia
, Run, S.B.S.".
3) In the first authors collections there are also
three specimens
of
P. granimanus
labeled evidently incorrectly by the same label "
Eritrea
, Asmara env., 1983, leg. Dorsak". In reality, only very hot localities in the vicinity of Berbera, Somaliland (see below) were veri- fied for
P. granimanus
. These localities are relatively close to the
P. granimanus
type
locality which is also hot and near the sea (
Fig. 204
). The
types
of
P. granimanus fuscicauda
Caporiacco, 1947
are also from
Eritrea
according to the label (
Eritrea
, dint. Elghena (Hassi Habab),
XI.-XII.1902
, MZUF, Nos 548 and 549), but these old labels are also suspect, and require verification.