Animal: Buthus spp., -
The former species Buthus occitanus, is being increasingly reorganized into different species. In their comprehensive biological review, Sousa et al. (2017) describe 52 species of Buthus sp.. Herein the former species Buthus occitanus, which was made responible for many severe stings in Northern Africa, is taxonomically only applied for the European populations (NE-Spain and SW- France).
Up to 2009, clinical reports continued to name B. occitanus as culprits for stings in Northern Africa, despite precise morphological species identification was not undertaken. Until the most recent taxonomic changes are also recognised in clinical publications, it is appropriate to render stings by 'B. occitanus' in Northern Africa as stings by Buthus sp.
Species
- Buthus adrianae
- Buthus albengai
- Buthus amri
- Buthus atlantis
- Buthus aures
- Buthus awashensis
- Buthus barcaeus
- Buthus berberensis
- Buthus bonito
- Buthus boumalenii
- Buthus brignolii
- Buthus centroafricanus
- Buthus chambiensis
- Buthus confluens
- Buthus draa
- Buthus dunlopi
- Buthus duprei
- Buthus egyptiensis
- Buthus elhennawyi
- Buthus elizabethae
- Buthus elmoutaouakili
- Buthus elongatus
- Buthus hassanini
- Buthus ibericus
- Buthus intermedius
- Buthus intumescens
- Buthus israelis
- Buthus jianxinae
- Buthus karoraensis
- Buthus kunti
- Buthus labuschagnei
- Buthus lienhardi
- Buthus lourencoi
- Buthus malhommei
- Buthus mardochei
- Buthus mariefranceae
- Buthus maroccanus
- Buthus montanus
- Buthus nigrovesiculosus
- Buthus occidentalis
- Buthus occitanus
- Buthus orientalis
- Buthus paris
- Buthus parroti
- Buthus prudenti
- Buthus pusillus
- Buthus rochati
- Buthus saharicus
- Buthus tassili
- Buthus trinacrius
- Buthus tunetatus
- Buthus yemenensis
Taxonomy
Common names
-
Distribution
Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, southern France, Italy (Sicily)).
North Africa: in the north from Morocco to Egypt, in the south from Senegal to Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.
Middle East (Sinai, Israel, Yemen, Cyprus).
Buthus spp.
- Buthus adrianae: Egypt
- Buthus albengai: Morocco
- Buthus amri: Jordan
- Buthus atlantis: Morocco
- Buthus aures: Algeria
- Buthus awashensis: Ethiopia
- Buthus barcaeus: Libya
- Buthus berberensis: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia
- Buthus bonito: Morocco and Western Sahara
- Buthus boumalenii: Morocco
- Buthus brignolii: Sudan
- Buthus centroafricanus: Central African Republic
- Buthus chambiensis: Tunisia
- Buthus confluens: Morocco
- Buthus draa: Morocco
- Buthus dunlopi: Tunisia
- Buthus duprei: Sudan
- Buthus egyptiensis: Egypt
- Buthus elhennawyi: Niger and Senegal
- Buthus elizabethae: Guinea and Senegal
- Buthus elmoutaouakili: Morocco
- Buthus elongatus: Spain
- Buthus hassanini: Chad
- Buthus ibericus: Portugal and Spain
- Buthus intermedius: Yemen
- Buthus intumescens: Egypt
- Buthus israelis: Egypt and Israel
- Buthus jianxinae: South Sudan
- Buthus karoraensis: Eritrea
- Buthus kunti: Cyprus
- Buthus labuschagnei: Chad
- Buthus lienhardi: Morocco
- Buthus lourencoi: Libya
- Buthus malhommei: Morocco
- Buthus mardochei: Morocco
- Buthus mariefranceae: Morocco
- Buthus maroccanus: Morocco
- Buthus montanus: Spain
- Buthus nigrovesiculosus: Morocco
- Buthus occidentalis: Mauritania
- Buthus occitanus: NE Spain and SW France
- Buthus orientalis: Egypt
- Buthus paris: Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia
- Buthus parroti: Morocco
- Buthus prudenti: Cameroon
- Buthus pusillus: Algeria
- Buthus rochati: Morocco
- Buthus saharicus: Algeria
- Buthus tassili: Libya
- Buthus trinacrius: Italy (Sicily)
- Buthus tunetatus: Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya. ?Malta
- Buthus yemenensis: Yemen
Biology
Colouring light yellow to dark brown, sometimes black (B. maroccanus), sometimes with dark stripes on the upper surface of the mesosoma. Average length 4.5 – 7cm, rarely up to 9 cm.
Distribution from the lowlands to the mountains, as far as the snow line. In North Africa this species lives under stones, in the sand, in sand dunes and rocky deserts and in some areas are found in large numbers. In contrast to Androctonus sp., Buthus sp. also inhabits coastal areas.
Buthus species are also seen in villages and cities, and in Tunisia they are often found in the widespread cactus hedges, as are Androctonus sp. They can also be found in cracks in walls.
Risk
See also the section "Risk" for Androctonus spp. Stings by Buthus sp. on the Southwestern European continent are classified as less dangerous than stings by North African Buthus species (Goyffon and Chippaux 1984). In Spain, stings from these scorpions generally only cause local symptoms (Gonzales 1980, Casal and Luque 1985).
The large area of distribution of Buthus sp. in North Africa overlaps in many regions with that of Androctonus sp. and Leiurus sp. In these regions, Buthus sp. appears to be less dangerous than Androctonus sp. and Leiurus sp.(Goyffon et al. 1982, Amr et al. 1988, Alamir et al. 1992), but several cases of severe envenoming and isolated fatalities due to this species have been recorded in Algeria and Jordan (Bouisset and Larrouy 1962, Wahbeh 1965). Buthus sp. (-> probably B. tunetanus) has been blamed for cases of dangerous envenoming also in Tunisia (Bouaziz et al. 2008), and cases of severe envenoming have been attributed to this species in Morocco as well (Abourazzak et al. 2009).
Literature (biological)
Fet et al. 2000, Vachon 1949, Kinzelbach 1985, Keegan 1980, Levy and Amitai 1980, Lourenco 2008b, Lourenco et al. 2009, Nouira and Ktari 1989, Sousa et al. 2017