14 September, 2012

Euscorpius italicus found in Cyrpus

Euscorpius italicus Thorell, 1876 (Euscorpiidae) is known from several Europan countries, but introduced populations have also been reported from Algeria, Morocco,Yemen and Iraq. In addition, I've seen many reports of accidental findings of single E. italicus specimens from many northern European countries (stowaways).

Ersen Yagmur has now published a finding of a specimen of Euscorpius italicus in a house in Northern Cyprus. This is clearly an introduced specimen, but it is not clear if it represent an introduced population or if it is just a single introduced stowaway.

Abstract:
The scorpion species Euscorpius italicus (Herbst, 1800) is recorded for first time from Cyprus. This represents a new scorpion family, genus and species record for the country. Besides, this is first insular record from Mediterranean Sea. The characteristic morphological features, zoogeographical remarks and ecological notes on the species are presented in this study.

Reference:
Yagmur EA. First Record of the Genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) in Cyprus. Acta Zoologica Bulgarica. 2012;64(3):329-30.

Thanks to Ersen for sending me this article!

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