Figure 9: Buthacus
leptochelys.
Buthacus
leptochelys (Ehrenberg,
1829)
Diagnosis: Yellow to yellowish brown in colour.
Prosoma: entirely smooth. Mesosoma: smooth without crests. Metasoma: tails
segments with hairs, and telson with many hairs. Pectines with 27-35 teeth
in males and 18-29 in
females.
Measurements: Total length may reach up to 6cm
(average 4.1 cm.), prosoma 4.4-4.6mm., mesosoma 9-10.3mm., metasoma 22.7-25mm.
Habitat and distribution: This species is known from
Southwest Jordan (Kinzelbach, 1984) and from Wadi Rum (Stathi and Mylonas,
2001). It was collected from rodent burrows in extreme desertic conditions near
El Jafr (Amr and El-Oran, 1994). Kinzelbach (1984) revised the systematic
position of Buthacus leptochelys nitzani (Levy
et al. 1973) and suggested synonymy with Buthacus leptochelys (Hemprich
& Ehrenberg, 1829).
The records of Kovařík and Whitman (2004) of Buthacus arenicola and
Buthacus tadmorensis from Wadi Rum are considered as Buthacus leptochelys in this study until further validation of the status
of species of the genus Buthacus in the Middle East.
