Genetic diversity within scorpions of the genus Buthus from the Iberian Peninsula: mitochondrial DNA sequence data indicate additional distinct cryptic lineages

Abstract

Historically Buthus occitanus (Amoreux 1789) was recognized as the sole species of the genus present in the Iberian Peninsula, but recent morphological studies have identified and named two additional species. In addition, molecular data on the Moroccan fauna has shed light on the diversity within the genus. More species have since been described from North Africa, where diversity within the genus is highest. In this study we assessed the genetic diversity within specimens of Buthus Leach 1815 from across the Iberian Peninsula using cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) mitochondrial DNA sequences. The known range of B. ibericus Lourenco & Vachon 2004 was greatly expanded, with the species widespread in most of the western part of the Iberian Peninsula. Five distinct mtDNA lineages were found within Buthus from the Iberian Peninsula, two of which were reported for the first time in this study. However, both B. ibericus and B. occitanus included highly divergent lineages and thus further studies are needed to fully comprehend the taxonomy of Buthus from this region. Historically only one species of the scorpion genus Buthus Leach 1815, Buthus occitanus (Amoreux 1789) was recognized from the Iberian Peninsula (Fet & Lowe 2000). Recently two new endemic species were described, Buthus ibericus Lourenco & Vachon 2004 and Buthus montanus Lourenco & Vachon 2004, from the southern Spanish provinces of Cadiz, and Granada and Almeria, respectively. These authors also suggest that B. ibericus may be present in the Algarve, southern Portugal, but these specimens were not included in their morphological analyses due to the poor state of the museum specimens examined. All other European specimens, from France and Spain, were attributed to B. occitanus. Later Teruel & Perez-Bote (2005) examined a population of