03 July, 2009

A new species of Grosphus from the Comoros Archipelago

Lourenco & Goodman have recently described a new species of Grosphus (Buthidae) from the island of Mayotte (Maore), which is a part of the Comoros Archipelago (but under the administration of France):

Grosphus mayottensis Lourenco & Goodman, 2009 (Buthidae)

This is the first reccord of Grosphus outside Madagascar and the existence of this genus on the island is probably due to introductions from Madagascar through water rafting on vegetation etc. Human introduction is not likely due to late human colonization of the island (there have not been enought time for speciation).

Abstract:
A new species, Grosphus mayottensis sp. n., is described from the isolated volcanic island of Mayotte (Maore) in the Comoros archipelago. With this description, the total number of species in this genus, which previously was known only from Madagascar, is 20. Some ideas are presented on the possible means of dispersion of Grosphus from Madagascar to Mayotte, which is best explained by rafting on floating vegetation.

Reference:
Lourenco WR, Goodman SM. Scorpions from the Comoros Archipelago: Description of a new species of Grosphus Simon (Scorpiones, Buthidae) from Mayotte (Maore). Boletin Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa. 2009; (44):35-8.

Family Buthidae

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