Abstract
Euscorpius tauricus (C. L. Koch, 1837) was previously known only from the Crimea Peninsula, Ukraine. We report an unexpected presence of this species in the Cyclades Islands (Greece) and northwestern Anatolia (Turkey). In addition we designate a neotype for this species. We synonymize Euscorpius carpathicus aegaeus Di Caporiacco, 1950 syn. n., from Antiparos Island and Euscorpius rahsenae Yağmur et Tropea, 2013 syn. n., from Anatolia, with E. tauricus. In addition, we describe two new species related to E. tauricus, from the Cyclades Islands: E. curcici sp. n., from Ios and Sikinos Islands, and E. amorgensis sp. n., from Amorgos Island. Identity and level of divergence of these taxa is confirmed by multiple DNA markers.
Highlights
The genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876, widespread especially in southern Europe and Anatolia, is one of the most studied scorpion taxa
1837) was described from the Crimea Peninsula, in Ukraine. His description was not very detailed, and for this reason, it was treated as a synonym, subspecies or race of E. carpathicus until Fet (2003) elevated it to species status, based on 16S rRNA of specimens from Crimea
The latter work showed the phylogeny of Euscorpius with a large number of populations, addressing the populations from Amorgos, Naxos, Paros, Sifnos, and Sikinos as “E. tauricus complex”, including E. avcii Tropea et al, 2012, from Samos Island
Summary
The genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876, widespread especially in southern Europe and Anatolia, is one of the most studied scorpion taxa. The taxonomy of this genus is very complicated and still far from being resolved. This is true for the Euscorpius of Greece, where, especially due to the unavailability of lack of specimens from many areas, this genus has been insufficiently studied. The taxonomic studies of Euscorpius are hindered by existence of cryptic species complexes, which are difficult to resolve even with phylogenetic analysis using multiple DNA markers. Recently several studies delineated and described various new and old forms of this genus resulting in a significant increase of the number of species in Greece (Fet et al, 2013a, 2013b, 2014; Parmakelis et al, 2013; Tropea & Rossi, 2012; Tropea & Fet, 2015; Tropea et al, 2013, 2014a, 2015). N., from Amorgos Island, increasing the number of valid species of the genus Euscorpius in Greece to 22. Our data indicate the existence of more undescribed species of Euscorpius in Greece (Tropea et al, in press)
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