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Hottentotta

{{Short description|Genus of scorpions}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Hottentotta jayakari jayakari (2).JPG

| image_caption = Hottentotta jayakari jayakari

| taxon = Hottentotta

| authority = Birula, 1908

| type_species = Scorpio hottentotta

| type_species_authority = Fabricius, 1787

| synonyms =

  • Buthotus Vachon, 1949
  • Hottentotta (Balfourianus) Vachon, 1979
  • Hottentotta (Deccanobuthus) Lourenço, 2000

| synonyms_ref = {{cite journal |author=Kovařík, F. |year=2007 |title=A revision of the genus Hottentotta Birula, 1908, with descriptions of four new species |journal=Euscorpius |volume=58 |pages=1–105 |url=http://www.science.marshall.edu/fet/euscorpius/p2007_58%20full.pdf }}

| diversity_link = Hottentotta#diversity

| diversity = About 39 species

}}

Hottentotta is a genus of scorpions of the family Buthidae. It is distributed widely across Africa, except for most of the Sahara desert. Species in the genus also occur in the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, southeastern Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Cape Verde Islands, and Sri Lanka (introduced).

Taxonomy

The genus was introduced in 1908 by A. A. Birula, originally as a subgenus of the genus Buthus.{{cite journal |author=Birula, A. A. |year=1908 |title=Ergebnisse der mit Subvention aus der Erbschaft Treitl unternommenen zoologischen Forschungsreise Dr. F. Werner's nach dem Anglo-Aegyptischen Sudan und Nord-Uganda. XIV. Skorpiones und Solifugae |language=German |journal=Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlich-königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien |volume=117 |issue=1 |pages=121–152}} It was elevated to genus rank by F. Werner in 1934.{{cite book |author=Werner, F. |year=1934 |chapter=Scorpiones. Pedipalpi |editor=Bronn, H. G. |editor-link=Heinrich Georg Bronn |title=Klassen und Ordnungen des Tierreichs |volume=8 |pages=1–490 |location=Leipzig}} Buthotus Vachon, 1949 is an often used but outdated synonym of Hottentotta.

Some authors subdivided the genus into three subgenera, Hottentotta (Hottentotta), Hottentotta (Balfourianus) Vachon, 1979,{{cite journal |author=Vachon, M. |year=1979 |title=Notes on the types of scorpions in the British Museum (Natural History), London. Buthus socotrensis Pocock, 1889 (Family Buthidae) |journal=Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology Series |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=233–237}} and Hottentotta (Deccanobuthus) Lourenço, 2000.{{cite journal |author=Lourenço, W. R. |year=2000 |title=The genus Hottentotta Birula, 1908, with the description of a new subgenus and species from India (Scorpiones, Buthidae) |journal=Entomologische Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum Hamburg |volume=13 |issue=162 |pages=191–195}} The latest taxonomic reviews of this genus by F. Kovařík{{cite book |author=Kovařík, F. |year=2013 |chapter=Family Buthidae |editor=Kovařík, F. |editor2=Ojanguren Affilastro, A. |title=Illustrated catalogue of scorpions. Part II: Bothriuridae; Chaerilidae; Buthidae I: genera Compsobuthus, Hottentotta, Isometrus, Lychas and Sassanidotus | pages=141–212 |location=Prague}} reject this subdivision and recognizes a single, undivided genus Hottentotta. The differences separating the closely related genus Mesobuthus from Hottentotta are very subtle, and species have been often been misassigned among the two genera.{{cite journal |author1=Teruel, R. |author2=J. O. Rein |year=2010 |title=A new Hottentotta Birula, 1908 from Afghanistan with a note on the generic position of Mesobuthus songi Lourenço, Qi and Zhu, 2005 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) |journal=Euscorpius |volume=94 |pages=1–8 |url=http://www.science.marshall.edu/fet/euscorpius/p2010_94.pdf }}

=Diversity=

The content of this genus may vary, depending on the authority. At least 40-41 species are known:{{cite web |url=http://www.ntnu.no/ub/scorpion-files/buthidae.php |author=Rein, J. O. |year=2010 |title=Buthidae C. L. Koch, 1837 |work=The Scorpion Files |publisher=Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet |access-date=April 7, 2010}}{{cite journal |author=Lowe, G. |year=2010 |title=Two new species of Hottentotta Birula, 1908 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from northern Oman |journal=Euscorpius |volume=103 |pages=1–23 |url=http://www.science.marshall.edu/fet/euscorpius/p2010_103.pdf }}{{cite journal |author=Turiel, C. |year=2014 |title=A new species of Hottentotta Birula, 1908 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from southern Morocco |journal=Euscorpius |volume=2014 |issue=181 |pages=1–9 |doi=10.18590/euscorpius.2014.vol2014.iss181.1 |url=http://www.science.marshall.edu/fet/euscorpius/p2014_181.pdf |doi-access=free }}

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==Disputed species==

  • Hottentotta syrticus (Borelli, 1914) and Buthotus (=Hottentotta) asimii Amir, Kamaluddin & Khan, 2004 are considered nomina dubia.{{cite web |url=http://www.ntnu.no/ub/scorpion-files/buthidae_updates.pdf |author=Rein, J. O. |year=2010 |title=Taxonomical updates in The Scorpion Files for Buthidae (2008-) |work=The Scorpion Files |publisher=Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet |access-date=April 7, 2010}}

General characteristics

Members of Hottentotta are generally moderately sized scorpions, with a total length of {{convert|70|-|90|mm}}; the smallest species are {{convert|30|mm}} long, while the largest species reach {{convert|100|-|130|mm}}. They belong to the most colorful species of scorpions. The base color ranges from bright yellow to black, with most species colored in brown or reddish tones. Many species are ornamented by color spots or bands especially on the mesosoma. Coloration may be considerable variable between individuals of the same species or among regional populations.

They show a typical buthid habitus with gracile pedipalp chelae and a moderately thickened metasoma. The vesicle is bulbous and proportionally large in some species. The cephalothorax and mesosoma shows distinct granulation in most species, some are strongly hirsute. The tergites of the mesosoma bear three distinct, longitudinal carinae (ridges).

=Toxicity=

As in other buthids the venom in at least some species of Hottentotta is relatively potent and can be of medical importance to humans.

Hottentotta tamulus, the Indian red scorpion, has evidently caused human fatalities by cardiovascular and pulmonary manifestations of intoxication{{cite journal |author1=Santhanakrishnan, B. R. |author2=V. Balagopal Raju |year=1974 |title=Management of scorpion sting in children |journal=Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene |volume=77 |issue=6 |pages=133–135|pmid=4853089 }}{{cite journal |author1=Bawaskar, H. S. |author2=P. H. Bawaskar |year=1992 |title=Management of the cardiovascular manifestations of poisoning by the Indian red scorpion (Mesobuthus tamulus) |journal=British Heart Journal |volume=68 |pages=468–480 |url= |doi=10.1136/hrt.68.11.478 |pmid=1467032 |pmc=1025191 |issue=11}}{{cite journal |author1=Bawaskar, H.S. |author2=P.H. Bawaskar |year=2008 |title=Scorpion sting: A study of clinical manifestations and treatment regimes |journal=Current Science |volume=95 |issue=9 |pages=1337–1341|url=http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/nov102008/1337.pdf|access-date=14 April 2010}} and is considered the most lethal scorpion species in the world.{{cite journal |author=Ismail, M. |last2=Bawaskar |year=1995 |first2=P. H. |title=The scorpion envenoming syndrome |journal=Toxicon |volume=33 |issue=7 |pages=825–858 |doi=10.1007/BF02761131 |pmid=8588209|s2cid=683188 }}

Kleber et al. (1999){{cite journal |author=Kleber, J. J. |author2=P. Wagner |author3=N. Felgenhauer |author4=M. Kunze |author5=T. Zilker |name-list-style=amp |year=1999 |title=Vergiftung durch Skorpionsstiche |journal=Deutsches Ärzteblatt |volume=96 |issue=25 |pages=A1710–A1715 |url=http://www.geiger-michael.de/skorpione/toxine_aerzteblatt.pdf |language=German |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112052333/http://www.geiger-michael.de/skorpione/toxine_aerzteblatt.pdf |archive-date=2011-01-12 }} listed envenomation by at least four other species as to cause clinically significant symptoms.

class="wikitable" width="100%"

|+ Relative toxicity and symptoms caused by envenomation from Hottentotta species

width="120px"|Species

! width="150px"|Median lethal dose
(LD50 [mg/kg]mice){{cite web |url=http://members.tripod.com/c_kianwee/rpotent.htm |author=Chua Kian-Wee |year=1997–2000 |title=Relative toxicity of scorpions |access-date=April 7, 2010}}

! Symptoms{{cite journal |author=Kanoo, S. |author2=M. B. Mandal |author3=A. B. Alex |author4=S. B. Deshpande |name-list-style=amp |year=2009 |title=Cardiac dysrhythmia produced by Mesobuthus tamulus venom involves NO-dependent G-Cyclase signaling pathway |journal=Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology |volume=379 |issue=5 |pages=525–532 |doi=10.1007/s00210-008-0375-7|pmid=19037630 |s2cid=23872549 }}

! Species distribution{{cite journal |doi=10.4103/0019-5359.19672 |author=Bhadani, U.K. |author2=M. Tripathi |author3=S. Sharma |author4=R. Pandey |name-list-style=amp |year=2006 |title=Scorpion sting envenomation presenting with pulmonary edema in adults: a report of seven cases from Nepal |journal=Indian Journal of Medical Sciences|volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=19–23 |pmid=16444084 |url=https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/7653/1/ms06003.pdf |doi-access=free }}

H. alticola

| not available

| Severe pain, questionably cholinergic symptoms

| Afghanistan, Pakistan

H. franzwerneri

| not available

| Severe pain, reportedly affection of the cardiovascular and central nervous systems, questionably cholinergic symptoms

| Algeria, Morocco

H. judaicus

| 7.94

| Severe pain, reportedly affection of the cardiovascular and central nervous systems, questionably cholinergic symptoms

| Israel, Lebanon, Syria, southeastern Turkey

H. minax

| not available

| Severe pain, questionably cholinergic symptoms

| Cameroon, Chad, southern Libya, southern Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, questionably Tanzania and Uganda

H. saulcyi

| 1.01

| not available

| Eastern Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, questionably Syria

H. tamulus

| not available

| Severe pain, cardiovascular symptoms (including acute myocarditis, cardiac dysrhythmia, ischemia-like changes and conduction blockade), pulmonary oedema

| Pakistan, India, and southeastern Nepal

This listing is not comprehensive due to lack of data and all species of Hottentotta are potentially highly venomous to humans.

Note that the LD50 value might differ considerably between populations of the same species.

Habitat

Most species live in semi-arid to humid, steppe, savannah and forested environments. Hyperarid deserts are avoided. Some reach considerable topographic altitudes as e.g. in the Atlas Mountains, the Zagros Mountains or at the Hindukush.

In captivity

Due to their relatively colorful appearance Hottentotta species are often kept and bred in captivity. Popular species are H. hottentotta and H. trilineatus. As with other highly venomous buthids keeping these species in captivity is only recommendable to experienced people.

References

{{Reflist|2}}

External links

  • Images of various Hottentotta species: [http://www.hottentotta.com Hottentotta.com]

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Category:Buthidae

Category:Scorpions of Asia