A review of the scorpions (and other arachnid groups) from Sudan

The Republic of the Sudan is one of the largest countries in East Africa with a large diversity when it comes to habitats and climate. A few new scorpion taxa have been described from Sudan in the last years, but no recent review of the scorpion fauna has been published.

Jason Dunlop and co-workers have recently published a review of the scorpions and other arachnid groups from Sudan. 17 species from the families Buthidae (15) and Scorpionidae (2) were recorded.

Abstract:
Literature-based species lists for arachnids, excluding spiders and mites, found in the Republic of the Sudan are provided. We summarize records, references, and localities for 17 scorpions (Scorpiones), one harvestman (Opiliones), nine pseudoscorpions (Pseudoscorpiones), 21 camel spiders (Solifugae) and one whip spider (Amblypygi). There are no published records of palpigrades (Palpigradi), whip scorpions (Thelyphonida), schizomids (Schizomida) or ricinuleids (Ricinulei), although at least whip scorpions and ricinuleids would not be expected in East Africa based on their current distribution. Key literature for mites and ticks (Acari) is also mentioned. In general, the Sudanese arachnid fauna has not been documented in detail. Many more species, particularly among the harvestmen and pseudoscorpions, are to be expected, and we offer the data gathered here as a baseline for future work.

Reference:
Dunlop JA, Siyam M, Kovarik F. Smaller orders of Arachnida in Sudan: a literature review. Arachnology. 2018;17:449-57.

Thanks to Frantisek Kovarik for sending me their article!