Fat-tailed Scorpions, Buthidae, are the largest group of Scorpions, with over 800 described species. They get their name from the fact that many species have thick tails and slender claws, primarily relying on their venom for both offence and defence, with a handful of species being capable of killing a Human with their sting. The genus Physoctonus currently contains two species, both from the caatingas thornscrub of northeastern Brazil.
In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 23 October 2017, Wilson Lourenço of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle at the Sorbonne Universités describes a new species of Physoctonus from Pará State in Brazil, based upon material collected by French zoologist Jean Vellard in 1929, and stored since then in the collection of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.
The Vellard made two trips to the Amazon region of Brazil in the 1920s, during which time he studied the Scorpions and Venomous Fish of the area. He subsequently described four new species of Scorpion from Brazil, all of which are still considered valid today. Vallard also left a number of undescribed specimens in museum collections, though these have largely been overlooked to date.
In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 23 October 2017, Wilson Lourenço of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle at the Sorbonne Universités describes a new species of Physoctonus from Pará State in Brazil, based upon material collected by French zoologist Jean Vellard in 1929, and stored since then in the collection of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.
The Vellard made two trips to the Amazon region of Brazil in the 1920s, during which time he studied the Scorpions and Venomous Fish of the area. He subsequently described four new species of Scorpion from Brazil, all of which are still considered valid today. Vallard also left a number of undescribed specimens in museum collections, though these have largely been overlooked to date.
The new species is named Physoctonus amazonicus, in reference to the area where it was found, in the Campos do Pará region between rivers Xingu and Araguaya, part of the Amazon drainage system. The species is a small-to-medium sized Scorpion, reaching a size of at least 28.4 mm (based upon the size of the single known female specimen – the males are unknown) and yellow in colour with brown spots. The only known specimen was found under a Termite mound in cerrado (savanna) grassland.
Physoctonus amazonicus, female specimen in dorsal and ventral views. Lourenço (2017).
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