Opisthophthalmus pilosus

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

Opisthophthalmus pilosus

Opisthophthalmus pilosus Werner 1936: 187-188, fig. 5

Current senior synonym.

Opistophthalmus flavescens Purcell, 1898 [synonymized by Prendini 2001: 24]

Syntypes (lost).

Data according to the original description: 1 ♀, Südwestafrika [German South West Africa = Namibia], [Karas Region], Lüderitzbucht [ Lüderitz Bay] [26°38 ’58” S, 15°10 ’03” E], 30-40 km im Umkreis Dünen [30-40 km within sand dunes], Eberlanz leg., entry number 44 (1929); 1 ♀, Deutsch-Südwestafrika [German South West Africa=Namibia], Prof. Dr. Griess leg., entry number 18 (1929).

Remarks.

The syntype series was lost during a plane crash when the material loaned to B. H. Lamoral was sent back to Hamburg (label in jar from H. Dastych: "B. H. Lamoral 18.XI.1974; Das ganze Material ist verloren, 1975. Das Flugzeug ist abgestürzt”). Lamoral and Reynders (1975: 563) established Opisthophthalmus werneri as a replacement name for O. pilosus Werner, 1936 wich is a junior homonym of O. pilosus C. L. Koch, 1838. Prendini (2001: see p.24 for details) later demonstrated that O. werneri is a junior synonym of Opisthophthalmus flavescens Purcell, 1898.