All you need to know about the status of Chinese scorpions and scorpion research

A new paper provides an updated review on the status of Chinese scorpions and scorpion research.

China is a vast country with many scorpion species. Even though Chinese scorpions started 2000 years ago, several modern studies in the last decade have updated the knowledge of Chinese scorpions considerable. In a recent article, the Wenxin-Li group present an excellent overview on the general situation of scorpion biodiversity in China. At present, 53 scorpion species of 12 genera of five families are recorded in China.

The new article also present an identification key for Chinese scorpions.

 Abstract:
This review describes the history of taxonomic research on scorpions and provides an updated checklist and key of the scorpions currently known in China. This checklist is based on a thorough review of the extant literatures on scorpion species whose  presence has been confirmed in China through field expeditions and examination of scorpion collections, excepting a few members that have no clear distribution or are currently in doubt. Totally, the scorpion fauna of China consists of 53 species and subspecies  belonging to 12 genera crossing five families, with 33 species (62.3%) and one genus being recorded as endemic. Additionally,  identification key and the distribution of scorpions from China are provided.

Reference
Di Z-Y, Yang Z-Z, Yin S-J, Cao Z-J, Li W-X. History of study, updated checklist, distribution and key of scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones) from China. Zoological Research. 2013;35(1):3-19. [Free full text]

Thanks to Dr. Zhi-Young Di for sending me his paper!