Stahlavsky, Kovařík & Lowe & Plíšková & Šťáhlavský, 2013

Kovařík, František, Lowe, Graeme, Plíšková, Jana & Šťáhlavský, František, 2013, A New Scorpion Genus, Gint gen. n., from the Horn of Africa (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Euscorpius 173, pp. 1-19 : 1-4

Plíškováet Šťáhlavský , gen. n.

( Figs. 1–4, 6–71) http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:37C5A919-44F6-40CA-BF6D-3754A0A097CA

Buthus (Buthacus) (in part): Birula, 1917: 21.

Buthacus (in part): Levy, Amitai & Shulov, 1973: 125; Fet & Lowe, 2000: 81; Kovařík, 2005: 1.

TYPE SPECIES. Gint gaitako sp. n.

ETYMOLOGY. Gint (masculine) means scorpion in Amharian, the official language of Ethiopia.

DISTRIBUTION. Ethiopia, Somalia, Somaliland.

Note. We intentionally use the name Somaliland (Hargeysa) for the northern territory corresponding to the former British colony (British Somaliland), which we distinguish from Somalia (Mogadisho). Somaliland has its own currency, a functional government with representation in several countries, and its officials contributed to our safe visit.

DIAGNOSIS. Total length 22 mm (male) to 37 mm (female); carapace trapezoidal, in lateral view preocular area not distinctly inclined towards anterior margin, level with or higher than postocular area; surface of carapace densely granular, with only anterior median carinae developed; ventral aspect of cheliceral fixed finger with two denticles; tergites densely granular, with three carinae of which lateral pair on I and II inconspicuous; sternites III–VI with finely micro-denticulate posterior margins, lacking larger non-contiguous denticles; pectines with fulcra, hirsute; metasomal segments I–III with 8–10 carinae; metasoma Iventrally smooth, lacking ventromedial carinae; metasoma II–III with strong dentition on ventromedial carinae, more conspicuous in females; metasoma IV lacking ventromedial carinae; metasoma Vwith enlarged “lobate” dentition on ventrolateral carinae; telson rather elongate, vesicle with moderate posterior slope, not sharply inclined or truncated, aculeus shorter than vesicle; all segments of metasoma and pedipalps sparsely hirsute, with long setae in both sexes, dentate margin of movable finger of pedipalp with 8 rows of granules, each with one external and one internal accessory granule, 5–6 terminal granules (4–5 terminal and one basal terminal); trichobothrial pattern orthobothriotaxic type A; dorsal trichobothria of femur arranged in -configuration; pedipalp patella with 7 external trichobothria; pedipalp femur with petite trichobothrium d 2 on dorsal surface; petite d 2 of pedipalp patella present; patella tricho- bothrium d 3 internal to dorsomedian carina; tibial spurs present on legs III–IV.

SUBORDINATE TAXA. Gint calviceps ( Pocock, 1900) , Gint gaitako sp. n.

AFFINITIES. In published keys to the buthid genera, the two species of Gint gen. n. are categorized under the genus Buthacus Birula, 1908 , where Buthus calviceps has long resided ( Sissom, 1990: 97; Kovařík, 2009: 21– 24, couplet 69). Many of the diagnostic characters applied to differentiate Buthacus from other genera seem to be plesiomorphic, and the genus is not strongly supported by derived characters. Thus, Buthacus is probably a paraphyletic assemblage of taxa and likely contains several distinct lineages. It is beyond the scope of this paper to completely revise and divide Buthacus . However, as a first step we establish Gint gen. n. as a separate genus. Most Buthacus , including type species B. leptochelys , exhibit the following combination of characters: (1) telson with long curved aculeus, longer than vesicle (except B. buettikeri Hendrixson, 2006 ); (2) anterior part of carapace glossy ( Fig. 5); (3) movable finger of pedipalp with 9–12 rows of granules; (4) medium to large scorpions, total length 45–90 mm (except B. villiersi Vachon, 1949 and B. clevai Lourenço, 2001 ). Gint gen. n. differs in all of these char- acters, and is further distinguished by its densely granular carapace, tergites, and metasomal segments, and by metasoma I being smooth ventrally with ventromedial carinae obsolete. Loss of carinae on the carapace is possibly a shared derived character that may relate Buthacus to Gint gen. n. However, such loss also occurs independently in many other unrelated buthids.

The small size, habitus, behavior, and distribution of Gint gen. n. are similar to that of Neobuthus Hirst, 1911 , for which it was initially mistaken (see sections on localities and life strategy). However, closer examination revealed key morphological differences between the two genera. In Gint gen. n., both sexes are hirsute with long setae, whereas in Neobuthus long setae occur only in females, and males bear short, spiniform setae. The ventral aspect of the cheliceral fixed finger of Gint gen. n. bears two denticles ( Figs. 56–57), but in Neobuthus only one denticle is present. Neobuthus is further differentiated by reductive neobothriotaxy (e.g. frequent loss of d 2 on pedipalp femur or patella), inclined preocular area of carapace, more stout pedipalps, bulbous telson with steeply inclined posterior face of vesicle, and metasoma Iwith granulated ventral surfaces and distinct ventromedial carinae. Carapace and telson morphology support a closer relationship of Neobuthus to Butheolus , rather than to Gint gen. n. (Kovařík & Lowe, 2012).