Parabuthus eritreaensis Kovařík, 2003

Kovařík, František, Lowe, Graeme, Plíšková, Jana & Šťáhlavský, František, 2016, 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, Euscorpius 228, pp. 1-58 : 19

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.