A new species of Tityus from Suriname

Eric Ythier and co-workers have recently published an article on the scorpion fauna of Suriname and described one new species in the genus Tityus C. L. Koch, 1836 (Buthidae).

Tityus kukututee Ythier, Chevalier & Gangadin, 2020

Try to say "kukututee" fast three times! ;)  It means "scorpion" in Ndyuka tongo, one of the Bushinengue (or Maroon) creole languages spoken in eastern Suriname.

Abstract:
A new species of scorpion belonging to the genus Tityus C. L. Koch, 1836, subgenus Archaeotityus Lourenço, 2006 (family Buthidae C. L. Koch, 1837) is described on the basis of material collected in a sandy dry forest formation located in Pierre Kondre, near Carolina, Para District, Suriname. Some comments are also addressed on the related species Tityus clathratus C. L. Koch, 1845 and Tityus mana Lourenço, 2012 and new locality records are provided for T. mana.

Reference:
Ythier E, Chevalier J, Gangadin A. Description of Tityus (Archaeotityus) kukututee sp. n. from Suriname, with comments on related species (Scorpiones: Buthidae). Arachnida - Rivista Aracnologica Italiana. 2020;VI(XXVII):36-51.

Thanks to Eric for sending me their article!

Family Buthidae

A new species of Leiurus from Kuwait

Wilson Lourenco has recently published a new article describing a new species of Leiurus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Buthidae) from Kuwait. This is the most easterly recorc of this genus.

Leiurus kuwaiti Lourenco, 2020

No data are available on the medical importance of the new species, but it should be regarded as potential dangerous as many of the other species in the genus.

Abstract:
A new species of buthid scorpion belonging to the genus Leiurus Ehrenberg is described based on a single female collected in the region of Al-Abraq – Al-Khabari farms in Kuwait. The new species, Leiurus kuwaiti sp. n., shows affinities with Leiurus hebraeus (Birula, 1908) species distributed mainly in Jordan and Israel. The populations from Kuwait and Jordan/Israel apparently are totally isolated by a large and dry region now occupied by the An Nafud desert. Therefore in account of the disrupted distribution and some minor morphological differences presented by the two populations, a new species is proposed to accommodate the population from Kuwait. Further investigations should bring more precise conclusions about the status of these two populations. The type locality of the new species represents the most easterly record of the genus Leiurus in the North range of the Arabian Peninsula and represents the first confirmed record of the genus for Kuwait.

Reference:
Lourenco WR. First record and description of a new species of Leiurus Ehrenberg from Kuwait (Scorpiones: Buthidae). Serket. 2020;17(2):143-9.

Thanks to Serket editor Hisham K. El-Hennawy for sending me this article!

Family Buthidae