Buthacus leptochelys (Ehrenberg, 1829)

Siyam, Manal, Dunlop, Jason A., Kovarik, Frantisek & Mohammad, Abubakr, 2023, Additions to the distribution of Sudanese scorpions, Zoosystematics and Evolution 99 (1), pp. 45-53 : 45

Buthacus leptochelys (Ehrenberg, 1829)

Figure 2b

Material examined.

2♀; ZMB 49416 -417, The Republic of Sudan, White Nile State, Ab-Dareesh (14°59'31.9"N, 32°26'49.8"E, 384 m a.s.l), 12.05.2013, leg. A. Mohammad, det. F. Kovařík. 1♀ 1♂ juv., Kovařík collection, The Republic of Sudan, Northern State, Kawa , 19°6'29.24"N, 30°30'25.07"W, XI.2013, leg. V. Trailin ; Khenifra , IV.2015, leg. V. Trailin.

Description.

Female total body length (5-7 cm). General coloration dark orange. Prosoma yellowish brown. Mesosoma dark orange, carinae on tergites almost absent. Metasoma orange except segment I which is darker and segment V which is more orange with granules on the retrolateral sides. Telson yellow, aculeus long with black tip. Legs yellowish brown. Pedipalps brownish orange and long. Pectines with 24 teeth in females and 30-31 in males.

Remarks.

This species, which may in future need to be divided into several species, was first described by Hemprich and Ehrenberg (1828) and Ehrenberg (1829) as Androctonus (Leiurus) leptochelys . The status of the genus Buthacus was confusing, but has recently been subject to several revisions (e.g. Kovařík 2018; Cain et al. 2021). Buthacus leptochelys was previously recorded in Dongola (Northern State), Duroor and Port Sudan (Red Sea State). Here, it is recorded for the first time in White Nile State, specifically from the locality of Ab-Dareesh and from further localities near Dongola.

Genus Compsobuthus Vachon, 1949

Figures

Figure 2. Habitus photographs of several Sudanese scorpion species, all in the family Buthidae, for which we can offer new distribution data here. a. Androctonus amoreuxi (Audouin, 1826); b. Buthacus leptochelys (Ehrenberg, 1829); c. Compsobuthus werneri (Birula, 1908); d. Leiurus quinquestriatus (Ehrenberg, 1829); e. Orthochirus olivaceus (Karsch, 1881); f. Parabuthus abyssinicus (Pocock, 1901). Of these, A. amoreuxi, L. quinquestriatus and P. abyssinicus have a potent venom and are regarded as medically significant.