15 June, 2010

A new Buthoscorpio from India

A new species in the rare and little known genus Buthoscorpio Werner, 1936 has been described from India by Javed et al.:

Buthoscorpio rayalensis Javed, Rao, Mirza, Sanap & Tampal, 2010 (Buthidae)

In the same paper, the author discuss the status of B. jinnahii Amir, Kamaluddin & Jabbar, 2005 and B. rahmatii Amir, Kamaluddin & Jabbar, 2005 (they were originally described in the non-valid genus Stenochirus by the authors). A study of the descriptions of these two species shows that they can not belong to the genus Buthoscorpio. The two taxa are now Buthidae incertae sedis and are not included in the total number species of Buthidae in The Scorpion Files.

Abstract:
A new species of scorpion, Buthoscorpio rayalensis sp. nov., is described from Andhra Pradesh, India. The new species of scorpion can be differentiated from its congeners in having the following set of morphological characters: anterior edge of carapace exhibiting very broad subtle indentation with a conspicuous epistome present medially, median eyes situated anteriorly in the ratio 1:3.1, interocular area smooth, patella anteriorly smooth and rounded, mesosomal tergites smooth, pectines 17–17, and arrangement of lateral eyes. Stenochirus jinnahii Amir, Kama-luddin et Jabbar, 2005 and S. rahmatii Amir, Kamaluddin et Jabbar, 2005 are considered Buthidae incertae sedis as their generic allocation has been erroneous.

Reference:
Maqsood Javed SM, Thulsi Rao K, Mirza ZA, Sanap RV, Tampal F. A new species of scorpion of the genus Buthoscorpio Werner, 1936 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Andhra Pradesh, India. Euscorpius. 2010(98):1-11. [free fulltext]

Family Buthidae

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