09 April, 2014

Two new Euscorpius species of Euboea Island in Greece

The new species Euscorpius birulai is only found in a cave on the Greek island of Euboea.
Victor Fet and co-workers are continuing their work on the Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Euscorpiidae) fauna of Europa. The Greek fauna is specially little known and phylogenetical analysis confirm the presence of unknown species on many islands in the Greek archipelago.

Two new species are described from the Euboea Island (Greece).

Euscorpius birulai Fet, Soleglad, Parmakelis, Kotsakiozi & Stathi, 2014

Euscorpius mylonasi Fet, Soleglad, Parmakelis, Kotsakiozi & Stathi, 2014

E. birulai is only known from Agia Triada Cave on Euboea Island. The species shows no cave adaptions.

Abstract:
We describe two new species of the genus Euscorpius from Euboea Island, Greece: E. birulai sp. n. (Agia Triada Cave) and E. mylonasi sp. n. (Mt. Dirfi). The cave species E. birulai sp. n is morphologically close to E. koschewnikowi Birula, 1900 from Mt. Athos, Greece. Species-level divergence of E. mylonasi sp. n.is also confirmed by multiple DNA markers. According to DNA adata, an undescribed species population from the nearby Skyros island is closely related to E. mylonasi sp. n.

Reference:
Fet V, Soleglad ME, Parmakelis A, Kotsakiozi P, Stathi I. Two new species of Euscorpius from Euboea Island, Greece (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae). Arthropoda Selecta. 2014;23(2):111-26.

Thanks to professor Victor Fet for sending me their paper!

Family Euscorpiidae

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