Species composition and distribution in an arid ecosystem i Algeria

Salah Eddine Sadine and co-workers recently published an article looking into the diversity and distribution of scorpions in the region of Ouargla (Eastern Algerian Sahara).

Abstract:
The present work is a study of composition and structure of scorpion fauna in the region of Ouargla (Eastern Algerian Sahara), during a period of fourteen years from 2005 to 2018, we sampled from different biotopes more than 1550 adult specimens, divided into nine 9 species of scorpions: Androctonus amoreuxi, Androctonus australis, Buthacus arenicola, Buthacus samiae, Buthiscus bicalcaratus, Buthus saharicus, Buthus tunetanus, Orthochirus innesi, and Scorpio punicus. A. australis was the most abundant species with 47.36% of the total individuals captured. Other species such as S. punicus, B. arenicola and A. amoreuxi are ranked as accidental with rates less than 20%. Among the important results in this work is reporting for the first time the presence of B. bicalcaratus in Ouargla and the new records of B. samiae and B. saharicus in this area. The Shannon’s index was H’ = 2.05 and the evenness index was 0.65, showing a very important diversity of scorpions with more than 23.5% of scorpion species reported in Algeria; however, a poor balance between the number of sampled species with dominance of the thermophilic species that are the most adapted scorpions in this arid climate.

Reference:
Sadine SE, Bissati S, Idder MA. Diversity and structure of scorpion fauna from arid ecosystem in Algerian Septentrional Sahara (2005-2018). Serket. 2018;16(2):51-9. [Open Access]

Thanks to Dr. Sadine for sending me his article!