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. It was elevated to genus rank by F. Werner in 1934. Buthotus Vachon, 1949 is an often used but outdated synonym of Hottentotta.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, and Hottentotta (Deccanobuthus) Lourenço, 2000. The latest taxonomic reviews of this genus by F. Kovařík 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.
Diversity The content of this genus may vary, depending on the authority. At least 40-41 species are known:
Hottentotta alticola (Pocock, 1895) Hottentotta arenaceus (Purcell, 1902) Hottentotta buchariensis (Birula, 1897) Hottentotta caboverdensis Lourenço & Ythier, 2006 Hottentotta conspersus (Thorell, 1876) Hottentotta finneganae Kovařík, 2007 Hottentotta flavidulus Teruel & Rein, 2010 Hottentotta franzwerneri (Birula, 1914) Hottentotta fuscitruncus (Caporiacco, 1936) Hottentotta gentili (Pallary, 1924) Hottentotta hottentotta (Fabricius, 1787) (type species) Hottentotta jabalpurensis Kovařík, 2007 Hottentotta jalalabadensis Kovařík, 2007 Hottentotta jayakari (Pocock, 1895) Hottentotta judaicus (Simon, 1872) Hottentotta khoozestanus Navidpour, Kovařík, Soleglad & Fet, 2008 Hottentotta lacroixi Ythier & Dupre, 2021 Hottentotta lorestanus Navidpour, Nayebzadeh, Soleglad, Fet, Kovařík & Kayedi, 2010 Hottentotta mateui Lourenço, Duhem & Cloudsley-Thompson, 2012 Hottentotta mazuchi Kovařík, 2013 Hottentotta minax (L. Koch, 1875) Hottentotta minusalta Vachon, 1959 Hottentotta mesopotamicus Lourenço & Qi, 2007 Hottentotta niloticus (Birula, 1928) Hottentotta pachyurus (Pocock, 1897) Hottentotta pellucidus Lowe, 2010 Hottentotta penjabensis (Birula, 1897) Hottentotta polystictus (Pocock, 1896) Hottentotta rugiscutis (Pocock, 1897) Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880) Hottentotta saxinatans Lowe, 2010 Hottentotta scaber (Ehrenberg, 1828) Hottentotta schach (Birula, 1905) Hottentotta socotrensis (Pocock, 1898) Hottentotta songi (Lourenço, Qi & Zhu, 2005) Hottentotta sousai Turiel, 2014 Hottentotta stockwelli Kovařík, 2007 Hottentotta tamulus (Fabricius, 1798) Hottentotta trailini Kovařík, 2013 Hottentotta trilineatus (Peters, 1861) Hottentotta ugandaensis Kovařík, 2013 Hottentotta zagrosensis Kovařík, 1997
Disputed species
Hottentotta syrticus (Borelli, 1914) and Buthotus (=Hottentotta) asimii Amir, Kamaluddin & Khan, 2004 are considered nomina dubia.
General characteristics Members of Hottentotta are generally moderately sized scorpions, with a total length of ; the smallest species are long, while the largest species reach . 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 and is considered the most lethal scorpion species in the world.
Kleber et al. (1999) listed envenomation by at least four other species as to cause clinically significant symptoms.
+ Relative toxicity and symptoms caused by envenomation from Hottentotta speciesSpeciesMedian lethal dose (LD50 [mg/kg]mice) Symptoms Species distribution 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
External links Images of various Hottentotta species: Hottentotta.com