Hormuridae Newsflash III: A new species of Hormiops

Male and female of the new species Hormiops infulcra Monod, 2014. Photo: Lionel Monod/Comptes Rendus Biologies (C)

Lionel Monod has previously published two major papers dealing with the systematics of the family Hormuridae Laurie, 1896. In a recently published third paper he presents data on the genus Hormiops Fage, 1933 in the South china Sea and a new species from two islands in Malaysia.

Important results:

Hormiops infulcra Monod, 2014: New species known only from two islands of the Seribuat Archipelagio, Malaysia.

Hormiops davidovi Fage, 1933: Distribution is now limited to (and probably also endemic to) the Con Dao Archipelagio, Vietnam.

The paper has information on Hormiops biology, habitat choice, reproduction and biogeography. An updated identification key for Australasian hormurid genera is included in the paper. 

Abstract:
The monotypic genus Hormiops Fage, 1933 is so far only known from two groups of granitic islands off the coasts of Peninsular Malaysia and Vietnam. Examination of newly collected material from both archipelagos and of the type series of Hormiops davidovi Fage, 1933 reveals previously disregarded morphological differences sufficient to assign the Malaysian specimens to a distinct species, described here as Hormiops infulcra sp. nov. An updated diagnosis of the genus, as well as a dichotomic key enabling the determination of Hormiops from its close relatives, Hormurus Thorell, 1876 and Liocheles Sundevall, 1833 are also provided. The phylogenetic position, distribution pattern, and ecology of these insular scorpions suggest that they are palaeoendemics, remnants of a previously more widely distributed lineage. A biogeographical model is proposed for the genus based on these observations and on a synthesis of palaeogeographical and palaeoenvironmental data currently available for Sundaland.

Reference:
Monod L. The genus Hormiops Fage, 1933 (Hormuridae, Scorpiones), a palaeoendemic of the South China Sea: Systematics and biogeography. Comptes Rendus - Biologies. 2014. In Press. [Subscritpion required for full text]

Family Hormuridae