Hottentotta penjabensis ( Birula, 1897 ) Kovařík & Yağmur & Fet, 2019

Kovařík, František, Yağmur, Ersen Aydin & Fet, Victor, 2019, Review of Hottentotta described by A. A. Birula, with descriptions of two new species and comments on Birula’s collection (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Euscorpius 282, pp. 1-30 : 10-13

Hottentotta penjabensis ( Birula, 1897) , stat. nov.

( Figs. 50–51, 55–70, Table 1)

Buthus hottentotta (in part): Kraepelin, 1891: 192 ( Birula,

1897: 377). Buthus alticola forma beta ( penJabensis ) Birula, 1897: 382. Hottentotta (Hottentotta) alticola penJabensis: Kovařík, 1998:

109; Fet & Lowe, 2000: 136.

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE REPOSITORY. “ Northern Punjab ”, no exact locality; now Pakistan or India; ZISP .

TYPE MATERIAL EXAMINED. Northern Punjab, 1♀ (holotype, Figs. 50–51, 55–70) (“from Stuttgart Museum”), ZISP No. 69(614) .

DIAGNOSIS. Female holotype is 84.35 mm long, male unknown. Trichobothrium db on fixed finger of pedipalp situated between trichobothria et and est. Pectinal teeth number 24– 25 in female. Pedipalps and metasoma very sparsely hirsute. Femur of pedipalp with 5 carinae, patella with 8 carinae, chela with carinae indicate only. Movable fingers of pedipalps with 15 rows of granules and 6 terminal granules. Seventh sternite with 4 well marked carinae. Metasoma I–III with 10 carinae; fourth with 8 carinae; fifth with 5 carinae, 3 ventral (one median, two lateral) and two dorsal. Dorsal carinae of metasomal segments bear larger terminal granules. Dorsal surface of metasoma smooth, fifth segment bears two short, inconspicuous carinae. Metasoma I–III wider than long. For measurements see Table 1.

AFFINITIES. H. penJabensis , which we elevate here to species rank, is very similar to H. Jalalabadensis Kovařík, 2007 from Afghanistan. Combination of three characters, (1) metasoma I wider than long; (2) total length of females more than 80 mm; and (3) pedipalps and metasoma very sparsely hirsute, distinguishes these two species from other Asian Hottentotta . Figures 52–57 show that these two species differ in shape of metasomal segments when female holotype of H. penJabensis has metasoma II little longer than wide while metasoma II in females of H. Jalalabadensis is wider than long. On metasoma III, H. penJabensis has 10 carinae while in H. Jalalabadensis there are 8 carinae and sometimes a short incomplete row of granules in the center of lateral part.

COMMENTS. Under the name of “ Buthotus alticola punJabensis (Birula)”, Tikader & Bastawade (1983: 164–168, figs. 453– 462) redescribed two probably immature males 46 or 50 mm long from BMNH (No. 1900.8.12.1–4), which could have been identifed by Pocock and studied also by Vachon in 1951 (see Vachon, 1959: 139–141, fig. 22). However, according to the characters cited in their redescription, we can assume that these two specimens represent a different species, which is here described as H. krivokhatskyi sp. n. and neither Pocock, nor Tikader & Bastawade, nor Vachon studied the real specimen of H. penJabensis .

In two notes, Fet & Lowe (2000: 136) commented on the original description and the type locality of H. penJabensis but incorrectly cited ZISP reg. No. 649. The original Birula’s registration card ( Fig. 71) shows that in the ZISP collection there is only one specimen (holotype) of this species, which was originally marked as No. 614 and later changed to No. 69 .