Butheolus thalassinus Simon, 1882

Lowe, Graeme, 2018, The genera Butheolus Simon, 1882 and Xenobuthus gen. nov. (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in Oman, Euscorpius 261, pp. 1-73 : 29-30

Butheolus thalassinus Simon, 1882

( Figs. 151–156 , 163–178 , 338 , Tab. 6 )

Butheolus thalassinus Simon, 1882: 248–249 , pl. VIII, fig. 20;

Butheolus thalassinus: Simon, 1889 : Simon, 1890: 122; Kraepelin, 1891: 75; Kraepelin, 1895: 5; Pocock, 1895: 295, 316; Laurie, 1896: 122; Kraepelin, 1899: 37; Kraepelin, 1903: 565; Birula, 1910: 171; Borelli, 1915: 461–462; Birula, 1917a: 215, 230; Birula, 1937: 101; Kästner, 1941: 231; Vachon, 1966: 210; Stahnke, 1972: 129; Sissom, 1994: 7–8, figs. 9–13; Kovařík, 1998b: 105; Fet & Lowe, 2000: 89; Kovařík, 2004: 4 , 25; Fet, Soleglad & Lowe, 2005: 2; Lourenço, 2005: 27, fig. 33; Hendrixson, 2006: 56, 61; Acosta et al., 2008: 493; El-Hennawy, 2009: 121; El-Hennawy, 2014: 45; Kovařík & Lowe, 2012: 1–2, 4, 18–23, figs. 7–8, 75, 78, 81, 84, 87, 90, 99, 104; Lowe et al., 2014: 117.

Butheolus (Butheolus) thalassinus: Vachon, 1980: 255 ; El-Hennawy, 1992: 101, 114.

TYPE MATERIAL. Syntypes, Yemen, Aden, MCSN (not examined) .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. Yemen: 2 ♀, Shaik Ottiman , 9.II.1895 ( BMNH) ; 1 ♂ Ta'izz, 3800 ft a.s.l., 1 0. I.1951, leg. H. Hoogstraal, under rock on Euphorbia Aloe Hill ( WDS).

DIAGNOSIS. A member of the genus Butheolus differentiated as follows: base color deep chocolate brown, with all metasomal segments and telson dark; pedipalps and legs yellow or brownish-yellow; carapace and tergites coarsely granulated; pedipalp patella with dorsomedian carina complete; pedipalp chela with strong dorsal secondary and external secondary carinae, moderate to strong dorsal marginal, digital, external, ventroexternal and ventrointernal carinae; ventral surface between ventromedian carinae of metasoma I with dense coarse and fine granulation; ventral and lateral intercarinal surfaces of metasoma II–V with moderately coarse granulation; metasoma and telson with sparse, short macrosetae; telson with large, broad subaculear tubercle, acute angle between posterior vesicle surface and aculeus base; pedipalp and metasoma stout; pedipalp femur L/W ♂ 2.42; pedipalp patella L/W ♂ 2.25; pedipalp chela L/W ♂ 4.08; metasoma I L/W ♂ 0.75; metasoma IV L/D ♂ 1.24, metasoma V L/D ♂ 1.68, telson L/D ♂ 2.01; pectine teeth ♂ 17–18, ♀ 14–16.

Figures

Figure 338. Map of records in the Arabian Peninsula of Butheolus and Xenobuthus gen. n. Symbols show locations of collection records of species examined in this study. B. gallagheri: black circles; B. harrisoni: orange circles; B. thalassinus: cyan circles; B. villosus: light green circle; X. anthracinus: magenta squares; X. xanthus: yellow squares. Locality data are from specimens examined, except for the type locality and two additional published records of B. thalassinus. The indefinite type locality of X. anthracinus (Hadramaut “by the way”; Pocock, 1895) is not plotted. Map scale: 150 km.

Figures 151–162: Scatter plots showing variation in morphometric ratios of species of Butheolus and Xenobuthus gen. n. Figs. 151–156. Selected ratios of males (♂). B. gallagheri: black filled symbols; B. harrisoni: orange filled symbols; B. thalassinus: cyan circles; X. anthracinus: magenta circles; X. xanthus: yellow circles. Figs. 157–162. Selected ratios of females (♀). B. gallagheri: black open symbols; B. harrisoni: orange open symbols; B. villosus: light green circles; X. anthracinus: magenta circles; X. xanthus: yellow circles. Abbreviations: L, length; W, width (carapace W = posterior width), D depth.

Figures 163–164: Habitus of male Butheolus thalassinus Simon, 1882. Fig. 163. Dorsal aspect. Fig. 164. Ventral aspect. Yemen, Ta'izz, 1158 m a.s.l., under rock on Euphorbia-Aloe hill, 10. I. 1951, H. Hoogstraal (cf. Sissom, 1994: 7–8, figs. 8–13). Scale bar: 5 mm.

Figures 165–166: Prosoma and mesosoma of male Butheolus thalassinus Simon, 1882. Fig. 165. Dorsal aspect, carapace and tergites. Fig. 166. Ventral aspect, coxosternal area and sternites. Same male as in Figs. 163–164. Scale bar: 1 mm.

Figures 167–178: Metasoma, telson, pedipalp and trichobothrial map of Butheolus thalassinus Simon, 1882. Male, same as in Figs. 163–164. UV fluorescence. Figs. 167–169. Metasoma and telson. Dorsal (167), right lateral (168) and ventral (169) aspects. Scale bar: 2 mm. Figs. 170–176. Pedipalp and trichobothria. Dorsal (170), external (171) and ventral (172) aspect of chela; dorsal (173) and external (174) aspect of patella; dorsal (175) and internal (176) aspect of femur. Scale bar: 1 mm. Figs. 177–178. Dentition of fixed finger (FF) (177) and movable finger (MF) (178). Scale bar: 500 µm.