Iomachus exsul

Monod, Lionel, Duperre, Nadine & Harms, Danilo, 2019, An annotated catalogue of the scorpion types (Arachnida, Scorpiones) held in the Zoological Museum Hamburg. Part I: Parvorder Iurida Soleglad & Fet, 2003, Evolutionary Systematics 3 (2), pp. 109-200 : 109

Iomachus exsul

Iomachus exsul Werner, 1939: 360, fig. 3

Current combination.

Chactas exsul (Werner, 1939)

Holotype (lost).

Data according to original description: ♂ Costa Rica, [ Limón], Ebene von Limon [plains of Puerto Limón], bei Las Mercedes [near Las Mercedes] [10°10 ’32” N, 83°36 ’41” W], 10-30 m über dem Meere [10-30 m alt.], 12-30 km vom Atlantik [12-30 km from the coast], Siguires, in Bohrlöchern [in boreholes].

Remarks.

According to Sissom (2000), the holotype was destroyed during World War II. A neotype was subsequently designated by Francke and Stockwell (1987: 27). This specimen, a female from El Valle (Panama), is deposited in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington (USNM). We consider the designation of this neotype questionable for the following reasons: (1) The locality of the neotype is about 650 km from the original type locality; (2) The authors examined only five specimens in total, four females and one juvenile. Among this material, all specimens are from Panama except one female collected in the Limón Province in Costa Rica. It would have been more logical to designate this latter specimen as the neotype rather than one specimen from Panama because the site of collection was closer to the type locality. However, the authors do not provide any explanation regarding their decision to choose a specimen from Panama as neotype.