For more than a decade, Diplocentridae and the taxa within have been considered a subfamily (Diplocentrinae) within Scorpionidae. This, and other decisions about the higher systmatics of scorpions by Fet & Soleglad have been critized by some researchers, while others supported their deccisions. The scorpion Files' family structure have mainly been following Fet & Soleglad, 2005.
In the last years, several publications have provided support for the family status of Diplocentridae. Based on these and the advice from scorpion taxonomists that regularly comments and advices me on The Scorpion Files, I have decided to implement Diplocentridae as a family in The Scorpion Files. Hopefully, future studies will clarify the status of other scorpion familes and their relations and that a consensus can be achived for higher scorpion taxonomy.
Selected References:
Santibanez-Lopez C, Gonzalez-Santillan E, Monod L, Sharma PP. Phylogenomics facilitates stable scorpion systematics: Reassessing the relationships of Vaejovidae and a new high-level classification of Scorpiones (Arachnida). Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2019;135:22-30.
Santibanez Lopez CE, Kriebel R, Sharma PP. Eadem figura manet: Measuring morphological convergence in diplocentrid scorpions (Arachnida : Scorpiones : Diplocentridae) under a multilocus phydlogenetic framework. Invertebrate Systematics. 2017;31:233-48.
Sharma PP, Fernández R, Esposito LA, González-Santillán E, Monod L. Phylogenomic resolution of scorpions reveals multilevel discordance with morphological phylogenetic signal. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 2015;282(1804):1-10.
Fet V, Soleglad ME. Contributions to scorpion systematics. I. On recent changes in high-level taxonomy. Euscorpius. 2005(31):1-13.
Thanks a lot to all of you that support the Scorpion Files with articles, comments and advices! The project is not possible without you.
Family Diplocentridae
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