Two new species of Euscorpius from Bulgaria and Greece

 

Parts of Europe still seem to be an inexhaustible source of new Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Euscorpiidae) species. Gioele Tropea and co-workers have recently published a new article describing a new species from Bulgaria and from Greece based on morphological and molecular evidence.

Euscorpius petaberoni Tropea, Fet, Parmakelis & Stathi, 2024 (Known only from Kovachevitsa in the Western Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria)

Euscorpius trichasi Tropea, Fet, Parmakelis & Stathi, 2024 (Known only from the Mt. Olympos massif in Thessaly in Greece)

Abstract:
Two scorpion species, Euscorpius petarberoni sp. n. (Bulgaria) and E. trichasi sp. n. (Greece), are described based on morphological and molecular evidence; E. petarberoni sp. n. is related to E. popovi Tropea et al., 2015, E. drenskii Tropea et al., 2015, and E. thracicus Kovařík et al., 2020, while E. trichasi sp. n. is related to E. kabateki Kovařík & Šťáhlavský, 2020.

Reference:
Tropea G, Fet V, Parmakelis A, Stathi I. Two New Species of Euscorpius (Scorpiones, Euscorpiidae) from Bulgaria and Greece. Zoodiversity. 2024;58(1):1-18. [Open Access]

Thanks to Victor Fet and  Siegfried Huber for informing me about this article!

Family Euscorpiidae

 

New taxa from a new study of Balkan Euscorpiidae populations

 

Gioele Tropea has recently published a major study of Balkan Euscorpiidae populations. As usual these days, there are still many cryptic species hiding in European Euscorpiidae populations. These are the new taxa described in this article:

New subgenera in the genus Alpiscorpius Gantenbein et al., 1999:

Balkanscorpius Tropea, 2021

Hadzius Tropea, 2021

New species:

Alpiscorpius (Hadzius) karamani Tropea, 2021 (Central and west Serbia)

Alpiscorpius (Balkanscorpius) pavicevici Tropea, 2021 (Southern Serbia, south-west Bulgaria (?))

Alpiscorpius (Balkanscorpius) zloporubovici Tropea, 2021 (Central and west Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina (?))

New status and new combination (raised to species from subspecies):

Alpiscorpius (Balkanscorpius) caporiaccoi (Bonacina, 1980)

Alpiscorpius (Balkanscorpius) dinaricus (Di Caporiacco, 1950)

Synonymization:

Alpiscorpius beroni (Fet, 2000) is synonymized with A. (Balkanscorpius) dinaricus (Di Caporiacco, 1950)

Abstract:
Some Euscorpiinae populations with the trichobothrial series em = 3 from the Balkans, mainly from Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, are examined, resulting in the description of two new subgenera, Balkanscorpius subgen. n. and Hadzius subgen. n., three new species, Alpiscorpius (Hadzius subg. n.) karamani sp. n., A. (Balkanscorpius subg. n.) pavicevici sp. n. and A. (Balkanscorpius subg. n.) zloporubovici sp. n., and elevation to species status in the genus Alpiscorpius Gantenbein et al., 1999 and subgenus Balkanscorpius subgen. n. of A. (Balkanscorpius subg. n.) dinaricus (Di Caporiacco, 1950) stat. n. et comb. n. and A. (Balkanscorpius subg. n.) caporiaccoi (Bonacina, 1980) stat. n. et comb. n. A. beroni (Fet, 2000) has been synonymized with A. (Balkanscorpius subg. n.) dinaricus stat. n. et comb. n. The lectotype for A. (Balkanscorpius subg. n.) caporiaccoi stat. n. et comb. n. is designated. The forgotten species Scorpius bosnensis Mollendorf, 1873 is considered nomen dubium.

Reference:
Tropea G. Concerning some Balkan Euscorpiidae populations (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae). Biologia Serbica. 2021;43.

Thanks to Gioele Tropea for sending me his article!

Family Euscorpiidae

 

A new species of Euscorpius from Bulgaria

 

The unravelling of Europe's hidden Euscorpius species is continuing. Frantisek Kovarik and co-workers have recently described a new species of Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Euscorpiidae) from Bulgaria.

Euscorpius thracicus Kovarik, Lowe, Byronova & Stahlavsky, 2020*

Abstract:
Euscorpius thracicus sp. n. from eastern Bulgaria is described, fully complemented with color photographs of both live and preserved specimens, as well as their habitats. This species is described based on morphology and the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) DNA barcoding marker. In addition to the analyses of external morphology and hemispermatophore, we also describe the karyotype of E. thracicus sp. n. (2n=92).

References:
Kovarik F, Lowe G, Byronova M, Stahlavsky F. Euscorpius thracicus sp. n. (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) from Bulgaria. Euscorpius. 2020(326):1-17. [Open Access]

Family Euscorpiidae

A new Euscorpius from Bulgaria and Greece

Europe has almost been "flooded" by new scorpions species in the last decade. Especially in the genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Euscorpiidae), new and better taxonomical methods have revealed a host of new, previously hidden species. This time, Tropea and co-workers have described a new species from Bulgaria (southwest) and Greece  (northeast, near southwestern Bulgarian border).

Euscorpius popovi Tropea, Fet, Parmakelis, Kotsakiozi & Stathi, 2015

The identification of the new species is based on both morphological and and molecular evidence.

Abstract:
A  new  scorpion  species, Euscorpius popovi sp. nov, is described from southwestern Bulgaria and northeastern Greece based on morphologica land molecular evidence analyses. 

Reference:
Tropea G, Fet V, Parmakelis A, Kotsakiozi P, Stathi I. A New Species of Euscorpius from Bulgaria and Greece (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae). Euscorpius. 2015(207):1-15. [Open Access]

Family Euscorpiidae

New Euscorpius species from Southern Bulgaria

The scorpion fauna in Bulgaria is under investigation and in a recent paper Tropea and co-workers present a new species in the genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Euscorpiidae) from the Western Rhodope Mts. in southern Bulgaria.

Euscorpius drenskii Tropea, Fet, Parmakelis, Kotsakiozi & Stathi, 2015

A special combination of characters has not made it possible to assign the new species to any of the established subgenera.

Abstract:
A new scorpion species, Euscorpius drenskii sp. nov., is described from the Western Rhodope Mts. in southern Bulgaria. It is characterized by an oligotrichous trichobothrial pattern, which shows a conspicuous loss of one trichobothrium in the external median patellar series (em = 3), also observed in E. carpathicus (Linnaeus, 1767) and the subgenus Alpiscorpius Gantenbein, Fet, Largiadèr & Scholl, 1999. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA marker sequences does not show any close relationship between these three groups, suggesting that the observed loss of a trichobothrium is an independent event.

Reference:
Tropea G, Fet V, Parmakelis A, Kotsakiozi P, Stathi I. A new species of Euscorpius (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) from southern Bulgaria. Arachnologische Mitteilungen. 2015;49:10-20. [Open access]

Thanks to professor Victor Fet and Gioele Tropea for sending me the new article!

Family Euscorpiidae

Two new species of Euscorpius from Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece

Several researchers are studying the Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Euscorpiidae) fauna of Eastern Europe and Balkan, and several previous "hidden" species have been published in the last decade. In a recent study, Victor Fet and co-workers have described two new species from Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece.

Euscorpius deltshevi Fet, Graham, Webber & Blagoev, 2014 (Known from Stara Planina Mts., Bulgaria, and adjacent areas of Bulgaria and Serbia).

Euscorpius solegladi Fet, Graham, Webber & Blagoev, 2014 (Known from southwestern Bulgaria and northeastern Greece).

 Abstract:
Two new species of Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (subgenus Euscorpius s.str.) (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) are described based on morphology and the COI DNA barcoding marker: E. deltshevi sp. n. from northern Bulgaria and neighbouring Serbia (formerly reported as E. carpathicus) and E. solegladi sp. n. from southwestern Bulgaria and neighbouring Greece (formerly reported as E. hadzii).

Reference:
Fet V, Graham MR, Webber MM, Blagoev G. Two new species of Euscorpius (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) from Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece. Zootaxa. 2014 (3894):83-105. [Subscription required for full text]

Thanks to professor Victor Fet for sending me their article!

Family Euscorpiidae