Pandinurus smithi ( Pocock, 1897 )

Kovařík, František, Lowe, Graeme, Mazuch, Tomáš, Awale, Ahmed Ibrahim & Jana, 2017, Scorpions of the Horn of Africa (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Part XII. Pandinurus hangarale sp. n. (Scorpionidae) from Somaliland and a review of type locality and true distribution of Pandinurus smithi (Pocock, 1897), Euscorpius 253, pp. 1-18 : 14-17

Pandinurus smithi ( Pocock, 1897)

( Figs. 26–27, 37)

Scorpio smithii Pocock, 1897: 398–4 00 (in part).

Pandinus smithi: Kraepelin, 1903: 568–569 .

Pandinus (Pandinus) smithi: Pocock, 1900: 58 (in part); Vachon, 1974: 953; Fet, 2000: 468 (complete reference list until 2000); Kovařík, 2003: 152; Kovařík, 2009: 58, 126, figs. 389–391; Kovařík, 2011: 9–10 , 14, figs. 20–22, 41; Kovařík, 2013: 13, fig. 36.

Pandinurus smithi: Kovařík et al, 2017: 89–96, figs. 16, 160–161, 201, 390–393, 396.

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE REPOSITORY. Ethiopia ,

Turfa (new designation, see comments below); BMNH.

TYPE MATERIAL EXAMINED. Somaliland (now Ethiopia), Turfa, 1♀ (lectotype, Fig. 26 and figs. 392– 393 in Kovařík et al., 2017: 94) , BMNH No. 1897.11.10.1-3.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL EXAMINED. Ethiopia, 55 km S of Degehbur , 07°49'27.2"N 43°41'56.3"E, 1053 m a.s.l. (Locality No. 11EV, figs. 20 and 22 in Kovařík ,

201 1: 9), 17.VII.2011, 1♂ ( Fig. 27 and figs. 16, 160– 161, 201, 390– 391 in Kovařík et al., 2017), leg. F. Kovařík, FKCP.

DIAGNOSIS. Total length 100–110 mm. Color uniformly reddish brown; legs bright yellow; chela orange to reddish brown. Chelicerae yellowish brown, reticulate, with black fingers and anterior margin. Carapace lacking carinae and sparsely granulate. External trichobothria on patella number 17 (5 eb, 4 esb, 2 em, 3 est, 3 et); ventral trichobothria on patella number 32–34; internal trichobothria on chela number 3, accessory external trichobothrium ea on chela absent, ventral trichobothria on chela number 12–15. Pedipalp very densely hirsute, mainly on chela. Granules on manus of pedipalp conical and pointed. Lobe of chela granulated with the same intensity as whole dorsal surface of chela. External surface of chela granulate but without carinae. Chela of male length/ width ratio is 1.56. Pectinal teeth number 18–21 in both sexes. Dorsal carinae on first through fourth metasomal segments granulate and terminate in a larger tooth most conspicuous on fourth segment. Spiniform formula of tarsomere II = 7/4: 7-8/4: 8-9/5-6: 8-9/6-7. Tarsomere II with 3 spines on inclined anteroventral surface. Length to width ratio of male 5th metasomal segment = 2.29.

COMMENTS. Pocock (1897: 398–400) described P. smithi from a female 1 04 mm long from Turfa and a male 105 mm long, probably also from Turfa in "Somaliland" and cited also four other specimens from Somaliland, a female 114 mm long from Silul, a female 106 mm long from Hargesa (Hargeisa), and a male 110 mm long and a young male without a special locality. Pocock (1897: 399) wrote about these four other specimens: "Four other examples were also obtained, and these differ from the two describing in having the legs reddish brown or reddish green in color instead of a bright redish yellow". Pocock (1897: 400) also cited two immature examples from Ahdeh and Boholgarshan which "apparently belonging to this species". Later Pocock (1900: 58) cited "Hargeisa, Silul, Abdeh, and Turfa in Somaliland" as localities of P. smithi .

The first author (FK) studied and designated as lectotype the female from Turfa ( Fig. 26) but incorrectly cited the type locality Silul ( Kovařík, 2003: 152) or Hargeisa (Kovařík, 2009: 58; Kovařík, 2011: 10; 2; Kovařík et al., 2017: 89). We here correct this error and recognize the type locality of Pandinurus smithi as Turfa (see Fig. 26). Another problem is that Pocock located Turfa and all other localities of the cited specimens in Somaliland which is accepted by all recent authors. Fig. 36 shows a map of Africa published in 1885, which explains why Pocock cited the localities as these places in Somaliland and titled his 1897 paper "The first expedition from Somaliland to lake Lamu". However, nowadays the type locality (Turfa) and the locality Silul are located in Ethiopia while Hargesa (Hargeisa) is the capital of Somaliland ( Fig. 37).

We suspect that Pandinurus smithi ( Pocock, 1897) occurs only in Ethiopia and that the specimens cited by Pocock without a specific locality from Hargesa may belong to a different speices, one described herein as Pandinurus hangarale sp. n. One remaining unresolved question regards the taxonomic position of a female that Pocock recorded from Silul (now Ethiopia), but that groups with specimens lacking "bright reddish yellow legs", and two immature examples from Ahdeh and Boholgarshan which also were not recently studied.