Parabuthus abyssinicus (Pocock, 1901)

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

Parabuthus abyssinicus (Pocock, 1901)

Figure 2f

Material examined.

1♀; ZMB 48710 , The Republic of Sudan, Red Sea State, Toker (18°32'27.0"N, 37°49'10.0"E, 25 m a.s.l), leg. M. Siyam. 09.10.2011. det. F. Kovařík. 1♀; ZMB 49430 , Kassala State, Kassala - El-Gash (15°26'58.8"N, 36°23'21.0"E, 508 m a.s.l), leg. M. Mustafa 26.12.2019., det. M. Siyam and F. Kovařík. 2♂; ZMB 49431 -432, Kassala State, Khashm El-Gerba, Muraba'a village - Berno Wadi (14°16'45.8"N, 35°52'36.1"E, 502 m a.s.l), leg. M. Siyam and O. Khalil, 14- 19.02.2019, det. M. Siyam and F. Kovařík.

Description.

Male/female total body length (7-9 cm). General coloration brown. Prosoma brown; lighter in front. Mesosoma dark brown, with slightly granulated tergites except VII with lighter coloration and thick granulation. Metasoma thick and strongly granulated, segments I-III dark yellow while segments IV and V dark brown. Telson reddish brown, aculeus tip black. Legs yellowish brown. Pedialps long, yellowish brownish, manus normal. Pectines with 33 teeth in females and 40 teeth in males.

Remarks.

Parabuthus is a poorly documented genus in the horn of Africa, and the Republic of Sudan represents the northern limits of its distribution ( Kovařík et al. 2016b). Parabuthus abyssinicus was, for many years, treated as a synonym of P. liosoma Ehrenberg 1828 before being revalidated by Kovařík et al. (2016b) as part of a species complex. P. abyssinicus is a highly venomous and aggressive species (e.g. Cilli and Corazzi 1946), usually found in sandy areas or under stones or wood. King (1925) documented it, as P. liosoma , in Khartoum (Khartoum State) and Erkowit (Red Sea State). The new specimens of P. abyssinicus now added a new locality record (Toker) from Red Sea State and new state record (Kassala State) in with two new localities (Kassala and Khashm Elgerba).

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.