New localities for Aegaeobuthus cyprius in Cyprus

 

Cyprus has two endemic species (in addition to Euscorpius italicus (Herbst, 1800) which probably is introduced):  A. cyprius (Gantenbein & Kropf, 2000) and Buthus kunti Yagmur, Koc & Lourenço, 2011 (both Buthidae). Ersen Yagmur and co-workers have recently published an article with new localities for Aegaeobuthus cyprius on Cyprus.

I can add some personal data to this post. It seems that Aegaeobuthus cyprius regularly are in contact with humans on the island (entering houses, gardens, in swimming pools etc.). I have collected between 40-50 cases between 2013 and today. These data was supposed to be published together with a researchers that was interested, but unfortunately I never heard from him again after sending the data. Hopefully, these are not published without my knowledge. Regardless, I have a lot of data if anyone is interested in writing a paper :)

Abstract:
In this work, new locality records for the species Aegaeobuthus cyprius (Gantenbein & Kropf, 2000) are given in Cyprus.

References:
Yagmur EA, Hadjiconstantis M, Gücel S. New localities for Aegaeobuthus cyprius (Gantenbein & Kropf, 2000) in Cyprus (Scorpiones: Buthidae). Serket. 2020;17(3):183-7. [Open Access]

 Thanks to Ersen for sending me their article!

Genetic diversity among different species of the genus Leiurus in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East

 

 Abdulaziz Alqahtani and Ahmed Badry published this Fall an article on the genetic diversity among different species of the genus Leiurus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Buthidae) in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. They conclude that there is a clear genetic splitting between Leirus from Egypt and those from Arabia and Turkey. In addition, the results support the taxonomic status of Arabian Leiurus species.

Abstract:
The molecular phylogenetic relationship among two species of genus Leiurus, from Saudi Arabia with additional comparative sequence data available from Egypt, Oman and Turkey is presented. The molecular phylogeny was performed using maximum parsimony, neighbor joining and bayesian inference. Our results indicate a clear deep splitting between the Western clade, which represented by L. quinuestriatus sequences from Egypt and those from the Eastern clade which encompassing different Leiurus species from Saudi Arabia, Oman and Turkey was shown. Also, the phylogenetic relationship represents additional support for the taxonomic status of Arabian Leiurus species.

Reference:
Alqahtani AR, Badry A. Genetic diversity among different species of the genus Leiurus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Saudi J Biol Sci. 2020;27(12):3348-53.[Open Access]

Thanks to Dr. Badry for sending me their article!

Family Buthidae

A new species of Leiurus from Mali

 

Wilson Lourenco has recently described a new species of Leiurus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Buthidae) from Mali.

Leiurus saharicus Lourenco, 2020

Abstract:
A further species belonging to the genus Leiurus Ehrenberg, 1828 is described based on one male collected in the region between Taoudenni and Trhaza; in the north deserts area of Mali. Although close to L. hoggarensis, several characteristics attest however that this population is clearly distinct from the one found in the Hoggar region of Algeria. The type locality of the new species corresponds to an almost abiotic environment of the erg type, whereas the population from from the Hoggar inhabits a more mesic habitat. An almost absent reaction to UV-light was observed in the new species, which represent a peculiar feature for a buthid species.

Reference:
Lourenco WR. A remarkable new species of Leiurus Ehrenberg, 1828 from the north deserts of Mali (Scorpiones: Buthidae). Revista Iberica de Arachnologia. 2020(37):147-52. [No full text available]

Thanks to Eric Ythier for sending me this article!

 Family Buthidae

A new species of Euscorpius from the Lesvos Island, Greece

 
During a fantastic holiday in 2004 on the beatiful island Lesvos (Greece), I collected a few Euscorpius on three different locations. They were later sent to professor Victor Fet to be a part on his study of the genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Euscorpiidae) in Europe. Now, 16 years later, Gioele Tropea and co-worker's new article finally confirms what we suspected back then, that these belonged to a new species. 

Euscorpius lesbiacus Tropea, Fet, Parmakelis, Kotsakiozi, Stathi & Zafeiriou, 2020

Here are some pictures from my Lesvos trip that show the habitats of the new species:

My daughter Ingvild and our family friend Vebjørn pointing out a stone hiding several Euscorpius specimens.

Abstract:
A new scorpion species is described from Lesvos Island (Greece), Euscorpius lesbicus sp. n., based on morphological and molecular evidence. Identity and level of divergence of this taxon is confirmed by a phylogeny based on multiple DNA markers. Morphologically, the new species in mainly characterized by a trichobothrial numbers Pv = 7 and Pe-et = 6, and pectinal tooth numbers (Dp) usually 8 to 9 in males  and 7 in females.

Reference:
Tropea G, Fet V, Parmakelis A, Kotsakiozi P, Stathi I, Zafeiriou S. Euscorpius lesbiacus sp. n., a new species of scorpion from Lesvos Island, Greece (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae). Revista Iberica de Arachnologia. 2020(37):185-95. [No full text available]

Thanks to professor Victor Fet and Gioele Tropea for both sending me their article!

Family Euscorpiidae

 

 

A new species of Scorpiops from Western Ghats, India

 

India is a large country with a large scorpion diversity. There have been a quite a few studies of the scorpion fauna in the past of this country, but now a new generation of scorpion taxonomists are emerging armed with modern taxonomical and phylogenetical methods and we can expect many interesting findings in the years to come.

Shauri Sulakhe and several co-workers published an article in December describing a new species of Scorpiops Peters, 1861 (Scorpiopidae) from Western Ghats in India.

Scorpiops telbaila Sulakhe, Deshpande, Dandekar, Ketkar, Padhye & Bastawade, 2020

The article also has an identification key to the Scorpiops species from northern Western Ghats and northern Maharashtra, India. 

Abstract:
A new cryptic species of Scorpiops (Scorpiopidae) is described from northern Western Ghats of India with integrated taxonomic approach. Scorpiops telbaila sp. n. is closely related to S. tenuicauda and differs from all species of Scorpiops in morphological features and raw genetic divergence of 5.4-14.1 %.

Reference:
Sulakhe S, Deshpande S, Dandekar N, Ketkar M, Padhye A, Bastawade D. A new cryptic species of Scorpiops Peters, 1861 (Scorpiones: Scorpiopidae) from the northern Western Ghats, India. Euscorpius. 2020(327):1-18. [Open Access]

Family Scorpiopidae

A new species of Liocheles from Sumatra, Indonesia

 

Eric Ythier and Thomas Richard have recently published a new species of Liocheles Sundevall, 1833 (Hormuridae) from Sumatra, Indonesia. The new species was found 200 meters inside cave and seems to be a cave dwelling species, but doesn's possess any troglobitic characteristics. 

Liocheles oranghutan Ythier & Richard, 2020

Abstract:
A new scorpion species belonging to the genus Liocheles Sundevall, 1833 (Scorpiones: Hormuridae Laurie 1896) is described on the basis of one adult male collected in a cave near Bukit Lawang, Sumatra, Indonesia. The specimens was collected approximately 200 m from the cave entrance, in complete darkness. This new scorpion represents the fifth known species of the genus Liocheles and the third reported from Sumatra.

Reference:
Ythier E, Richard T. Description of a new species of cave-dwelling species of Liocheles Sundevall, 1833 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Sumatra. Revista Iberica de Arachnologia. 2020(37):159-64. [No full text available]

Thanks to Eric for sending me their article!

Family Hormuridae

A review of Iberian scorpions with six new Buthus species from southern Spain

 

Happy New Year!

Rolando Teruel and Carlos Turiel have recently publish the first part of their 10 year long study of the Buthus Leach, 1815 populations in Europa (Buthidae). In the current article they describe six new species from southern Spain and they confirm the validity of the four species previously described from the Iberian Peninsula. The distribution of the 10 species are given, with some significant reducations in the distribution of some of the "old" species.

Buthus alacanti Teruel & Turiel, 2020

Buthus baeticus Teruel & Turiel, 2020

Buthus delafuentei Teruel & Turiel, 2020

Buthus garcialorcai Teruel & Turiel, 2020

Buthus manchego Teruel & Turiel, 2020

Buthus serrano Teruel & Turiel, 2020

I paid attention to one statement in this article that I think is important to remember for us amaetur taxonomists. Some of the Iberian Buthus species cannot be identified with certainty without having adult specimens of both male and females. For example, the females of the non-related species B. elongatus and B. montanus are almost impossible to separate from each other, while the males are very different. Having a location will of course help us on the way to an identification ,but if you lack this, an identification of a single individual will be very difficult.

The authors will soon publish part two of their study adding more species from western Europe and present an identification key and a picture atlas that will help in identifying all the new species.

Abstract:
The genus Buthus Leach, 1815 is taxonomically revised for the Iberian Peninsula. We examined 291 specimens from 48 localities, including topotypes of the four currently recognised species: Buthus elongatus Rossi, 2012, Buthus ibericus Lourenco & Vachon, 2004, Buthus montanus Lourenco & Vachon, 2004 and Buthus occitanus (Amoreux, 1789). In this first contribution, all of them are confirmed as valid and redescribed in detail and their geographic distribution is clarified. Also, Buthus europaeus tridentatus Franganillo, 1918 is confirmed as a junior synonym of Buthus occitanus and neotypes are designated for both taxa to stabilise the nomeclature. Finally, six new species are described from southern Spain. The Western European diversity of Buthus reaches now 10 species, all of them being endemics and mostly having a limited geographic range.

Reference:
Teruel R, Turiel C. The genus Buthus Leach 1815 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in the Iberian Peninsula. Part 1: Four redescriptions and six new species. Revista Iberica de Arachnologia. 2020(37):3-60. [No full text available]

Thanks to Rolando for sending me this interesting article!

Family Buthidae