''Neobuthus'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...
of the family
Buthidae
The Buthidae are the largest family of scorpions, containing about 100 genera and 1339 species as of 2022. A few very large genera ('' Ananteris'', '' Centruroides'', '' Compsobuthus'', or '' Tityus'') are known, but a high number of species-poor ...
. It is distributed across the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
; in
Eritrea
Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...
,
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
,
Somaliland
Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...
,
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
and
Djibouti
Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...
.
Taxonomy
First described by Hirst in 1911, the genus was redefined in 2012 in reviews by Kovařík and Lowe. With its difference from the genus ''
Butheolus'' settled, it remained a poorly understood taxon due to lack of materials, with several isolated specimens acquired in 2010–2011 provisionally categorized as ''
Neobuthus ferrugineus.
'' Further expeditions to Somaliland, Kenya and Djibouti carried out in the following years allowed for the scope of the genus to be studied with more depth, with seven new species being confirmed in 2018.
''
Neobuthus sudanensis'', having a poor original description and still unexamined female specimen, is still unclear as an independent species.
Species
* ''
Neobuthus amoudensis''
Kovařík & Lowe, 2018
* ''
Neobuthus awashensis''
Kovařík & Lowe, 2012
* ''
Neobuthus berberensis''
Hirst, 1911
* ''
Neobuthus cloudsleythompsoni''
Lourenço, 2001
* ''
Neobuthus erigavoensis''
Kovařík & Lowe, 2018
* ''
Neobuthus eritreaensis''
Kovařík & Lowe, 2016
* ''
Neobuthus factorio''
Kovařík & Lowe, 2018
* ''
Neobuthus ferrugineus''
Kraepelin, 1898
* ''
Neobuthus gubanensis''
Kovařík & Lowe, 2018
* ''
Neobuthus haeckeli''
Kovařík, 2019
* ''
Neobuthus kloppersi''
Kovařík & Lowe, 2018
* ''
Neobuthus kutcheri''
Lowe & Kovařík, 2016
* ''
Neobuthus maidensis''
Kovařík & Lowe, 2018
* ''
Neobuthus montanus''
Kovařík & Lowe, 2018
* ''
Neobuthus solegladi''
Kovařík, 2019
* ''
Neobuthus sudanensis''
Lourenço, 2005
References
External links
*
Buthidae
Scorpions of Africa
{{Scorpion-stub