Major work on the phylogeny and systematics of Euscorpiinae in the eastern Adriatic region

 

The systematics and taxonomy of the members of the family Euscorpiidae is still a major challenge in site of numerous research papers in the last decades.  The four traditional European taxa known some decades ago, are now split into a huge diversity of genera and species. And there is still more to come as there are many cryptic species and geographic areas that are still not properly investigated.

Martina Podnar and co-workers have recently published an extensive phylogenetic analysis where they have reviewed the scorpions of the genera Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 and Alpiscorpius Gantenbein et al., 1999 (Euscorpiidae) with a focus on the eastern Adriatic region. 

This is a very extensive study full of new information and data, and some of it is above my head. But the main conclusions are that their analyses point to the existence of several new taxa and the ranges of several species have been revised. In addition they have made the following taxonomic conclusions:

Euscorpius lagostae Di Caporiacco, 1950 from Lastovo Island, Croatia is raised to species status (formerly Euscorpius carpaticus lagostae Di Caporiacco, 1950).

Euscorpius croaticus is moved to the genus Alpiscorpius as Alpiscorpius croaticus (Di Caporiacco, 1950). 

Why do have so many species? The current article indicate that this is probably due to complex topography creating many microhabitats, but also due to microrefugia in the Pleistocene that allowed new taxa to evolve.

Abstract:
The systematics and taxonomy of the scorpion family Euscorpiidae are still unresolved, and, within it, the eastern Adriatic scorpiofauna is largely unknown and under-researched. Based on two mitochondrial sequences (COI and 16S rRNA) and one nuclear marker sequence (ITS1), we put 107 newly analyzed samples originating from the Alps, the Eastern Adriatic, and the adjacent Dinaric karst area into phylogenetic context. Several species delineation approaches were applied to reveal cryptic diversity. Divergence time dating was used to highlight the major events in the evolutionary history of the genera Euscorpius and Alpiscorpius. The deep intraspecific genetic divergences observed in some clades warrant taxonomic revision of several taxa (Euscorpius tergestinus, Euscorpius hadzii, Euscorpius biokovensis, and Euscorpius (Alpiscorpius) croaticus). In this study, the population of E. hadzii from Lastovo Island (formerly Euscorpius carpaticus lagostae) is elevated to species level as Euscorpius lagostae Di Caporiacco, 1950, stat. nov. Euscorpius croaticus is moved to the genus Alpiscorpius as Alpiscorpius croaticus (Di Caporiacco, 1950) comb. nov. The distribution ranges of several species are revised, and based on the new data, a more detailed revision of species distribution is necessary. We attribute the major divergence events to the impact of the Middle Miocene Climate Transition, the Messinian Salinity Crisis, and the Middle Pleistocene Climate Transition. The observed patterns are therefore a direct consequence of the geological history and complex topography of the region, which provided numerous microhabitats, as well as of the Pleistocene microrefugia that enabled their persistence.

Reference:
Podnar M, Grbac I, Tvrtković N, Hörweg C, Haring E. Hidden diversity, ancient divergences, and tentative Pleistocene microrefugia of European scorpions (Euscorpiidae: Euscorpiinae) in the eastern Adriatic region. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 2021;Accepted Manuscript:1-26. [Subscriotion required for full text]

Thanks to Luis Roque for sending me this article.

Family Euscorpidae