07 October, 2022

A new species of Scorpiops from China

 


Victoria Tang has recently published a new article on the scorpion fauna of China and this time a new species of Scorpiops Peters, 1861 (Scorpiopidae) from Yunnan Province has been described.

Scorpiops tongtongi Tang, 2022

Updated data on several other Scorpiops species are given and based on these Scorpiops validus (Di et al., 2010) is raised to species status from synonymy with S. vachoni (Qi et al., 2005).

Abstract:
A new species of Scorpiops Peters, 1861, Scorpiops tongtongi sp. n., is described from Yingjiang, Yunnan Province, China, based on a single adult female. The morphology of the new species is fairly distinguishable from other congeners in Yunnan even with unaided eye; it is characterized by the following combination of characters in female: a pair of moderately robust pedipalp chelae without proximal lobes, small median ocular tubercle, short superciliary carinae, less granulated tergites, proportionally elongate metasoma and relatively short and bulbous vesicle. The coloration of the new species also differs from other congeners in Yunnan by being brownish in tergites and telson vesicle. The number of known species of Scorpiops from China is raised to 29 (22 endemic) and that of Yunnan is raised to 10 (9 endemic). The previously described congeners from Yunnan are also revisited, by complementing some missing data of several species, and providing new comparative data for the following species based on recently collected topotypes: S. puerensis (Di et al., 2010), S. shidian (Qi et al., 2005), S. vachoni (Qi et al., 2005), S. validus (Di et al., 2010), and S. zhangshuyuani (Ythier, 2019), as well as the Yunnan population of S. kubani (Kovařík, 2004). Finally, Scorpiops validus (Di et al., 2010) stat. rev. is restored from its synonymy with S. vachoni (Qi et al., 2005).

Reference:
Tang V. A new species of Scorpiops Peters, 1861 from Yunnan Province, China, with a preliminary review of its congeners in Yunnan (Scorpiones: Scorpiopidae). Euscorpius. 2022(360):1-44. [Open Access]

Family Scorpiopidae

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