Lanzatus Kovařík, 2001

Kovařík, František, 2018, Notes on the genera Buthacus Compsobuthus and Lanzatus with several synonymies and corrections of published characters (Scorpiones Buthidae), Euscorpius 269, pp. 1-12 : 10

Lanzatus Kovařík, 2001

( Figs. 23–25)

TYPE SPECIES. Lanzatus somalicus Kovařík, 2001 .

DIAGNOSIS. Total length 17.9–27.6 mm. Pedipalps orthobothriotaxic type A; dorsal trichobothria of femur arranged in β -configuration; trichobothrium d 2 of femur internal to dorsointernal carina; d 3 of patella internal to dorsomedian carina, when carina present; V 2 on chela manus located behind V 1; it on distal fixed finger; pectines with fulcra; pectine teeth number 18–24; basal middle lamella of pectines in females not dilated; sternum subtriangular; tibial spurs absent on legs I–IV; cheliceral fixed finger with one ventral denticle, margins of fingers with standard pattern of buthid dentition; carapace without distinct carinae, in lateral view with entire dorsal surface horizontal, or nearly so; lateral eyes number 5 pairs; pedipalp chela movable finger with distinct granules divided into 7 diagonal rows; tergites I– VI smooth to finely granulated with one indicated carina or acarinate; stigmata are narrow slits; metasomal segments all elongate, smooth, acarinate; telson elongate, smooth, without subaculear tubercle, aculeus shorter than vesicle.

COMMENTS ABOUT SYNONYMY. Lourenço (2001d: 174) stated that Lanzatus somalicus Kovařík, 2001 is a junior synonym of Sabinebuthus elegans Lourenço, 2001 . He provided no evidence whatsoever that S. elegans and L. somalicus are the same species. The published descriptions of these two genera/ species include substantial differences indicating that they belong to separate genera (see Figs. 23–25).

Kovařík, Lowe & Šťáhlavský (2016a: 2) noticed that according to the ICZN, if only the month is given in a publication, then the last day of that month, not the first, is the recognized publication date. Consequently, Sabinebuthus elegans was described on 31st March 2001, after Lanzatus somalicus which was described on 30th March 2001. Lourenço (2016) published a paper in which he confirmed that these two genera/species are synonyms and claimed that the paper with a description of Sabinebuthus elegans had priority of order in publication and was already accessible on 1st March 2001. In his 2016 paper, Lourenço launched personal attacks against the author (which are disregarded here), but he addressed neither the relevant taxonomic characters of the genera, nor inconsistencies between published figures of the movable finger dentitions of Lanzatus ( Figs. 24–25) versus Sabinebuthus ( Fig. 23).

The author believes that these two genera are in fact synonyms and that figure 4 ( Fig. 23) published by Lourenço (2001c: 19) is probably incorrect, like the many other cases of erroneous figures of pedipalp finger dentition. The author contacted the journal in which the description of Lanzatus somalicus was published, and was advised by the publisher that the paper was already in print and accessible by February 2001. So, if the description published by Lourenço (2001c) is incorrect and the description of Lanzatus somalicus Kovařík, 2001 was published earlier according to the official date of publication and true printing date, then Sabinebuthus elegans Lourenço, 2001 is necessarily a junior synonym of Lanzatus somalicus Kovařík, 2001 .