Uroplectes occidentalis Simon, 1876

Prendini, Lorenzo, 2015, Three new Uroplectes (Scorpiones: Buthidae) with punctate metasomal segments from tropical central Africa, American Museum Novitates 2015 (3840), pp. 1-32 : 29

Uroplectes occidentalis Simon, 1876

Uroplectes occidentalis Simon, 1876: 219–220 .

Tityus chinchoxensis Karsch, 1879: 370–372 (synonymized by Kraepelin, 1899: 57).

Uroplectes andreae Pocock, 1899: 835 , new synonym.

TYPE MATERIAL: Uroplectes andreae Pocock, 1899 , holotype ♀ ( BMNH 1900.9.10.1 ), DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Kasai Province: Kassai [Kasai], on Loange River , Upper Congo .

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL: ANGOLA: 1 ♀ ( NMSA 18679 ex ANG 3544 /4960). DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: J.C. Heymans, 1 ♀ [homotype] ( NMSA 11027 ) , 2 ♂, 1 ♀ ( NMSA 11028 ) , 1 ♂ ( NMSA 11029 ) ; Sandra , 1932, G.F. Overlaet, 5 ♀ ( MRAC 23.939 /943), 1 ♂, 4 ♀, 1 subad. ♀ ( MRAC 23.944 /949) . Kasai Province: N Kasai, Ikese , 8.v.1946, Lagae, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ ( MRAC 135.115 ) . Lualaba Province: Kisenge, Dilolo [10°41′S 22°21′E], ix.1963, A. Regnard, 1 ♂, 3 ♀, 1 juv. ♀ ( MRAC 126.086 ) . Tanganyika Province: Mpala [06°45′S 29°31′E], 6.vii.1953, H. Bomans, 3 ♂, 1 ♀ ( MRAC 75.966 ) , viii.1953, 1 ♂, 3 ♀, 1 juv. ♂ ( MRAC 85.143 – 147 ) .

REMARKS: The holotype of U. andreae was compared with nontype material of U. occidentalis from across the known distribution of the species, including one specimen from Angola and five from the Democratic Republic of Congo in the NMSA determined as U. andreae by B.H. Lamoral in 1977, among them a “homotype,” accompanied by a note stating “compared to holotype female of Uroplectes andreae (BMNH 1900.9.10.1) by B. Lamoral, 1977, and found to be conspecific.” Although poorly preserved, the holotype of U. andreae closely resembled other material in the BMNH labelled “ U. occidentalis var. andreae ” based on the presence of spiniform granules on the dorsosubmedian carinae of metasomal segments IV and V, the diagnostic characters provided by Pocock (1899) to separate U. andreae from U. occidentalis , typical specimens of which exhibit spiniform granules on the dorsosubmedian carinae of segments I–III only. As the presence and development of spiniform granules on segments IV and V was observed to vary among otherwise morphologically similar specimens of U. occidentalis , and no other diagnostic differences appear to separate U. andreae from the latter, they are considered conspecific and newly synonymized: Uroplectes andreae Pocock, 1899 = Uroplectes occidentalis Simon, 1876 , new synonym.