Androctonus barbouri (Werner, 1932)

A. barbouri (Werner, 1932)*

Androctonus barbouri (Werner, 1932), comb. n.

Buthus barbouri : Werner 1932: 300, fig. 141; Vachon 1949b: 287–288, fig. 371; Vachon 1952a: 261–262; Perez 1974: 22; El-Hennawy 1992: 98, 119; Kovařík 1995: 20; Kovařík 1998: 106; Fet and Lowe 2000: 92.

Type material

1 M (type probably lost), Agadir (approx. 30.43°, -9.60°), Morocco.

Distribution

known only from the type locality, Agadir, just north of the Sous River mouth, in southern Morocco.

Remarks

The species B. barbouri was described by Werner from Agadir, Morocco. However, this species cannot be linked to any of the Buthus species known from the reported type locality. This problem was already recognized by Vachon (1952a) that considered this species to have been “imperfectly described”, but then failed to make any taxonomic or nomenclatural act to fix it. Buthus barbouri and B. marrocanus are the only fully dark Buthus species known from Morocco. B. marrocanus was described from the Rabat region, 500 km distant from Agadir, and is distinguished from the former species by the shape of the inferior lateral keels of the fifth segment of the metasoma and by the number of pectinal teeth (Vachon, 1952a). Because of the chaetotaxy of the pedipalps Vachon (1952a) considered B. barbouri to be closer to Androctonus mauritanicus (Pocock, 1902). In agreement with these diagnostic characters, and Vachon’s (1952) opinion, we transfer B. barbouri to the genus Androctonus, with the new combination Androctonus barbouri (Werner, 1932). The relationship between A. barbouri and A. mauritanicus bourdoni Vachon, 1948, a subspecies of A. mauritanicus (Pocock, 1902), another black Androctonus species that also occurs in the Sous River valley, should be investigated.

Reference:
Sousa P, Arnedo MA, Harris DJ. Updated catalogue and taxonomic notes on the Old-World scorpion genus Buthus Leach, 1815 (Scorpiones, Buthidae). ZooKeys. 2017(686):15-84. [Open Access]