Euscorpius italicus (Herbst, 1800)

Colombo, Marco, 2006, New data on distribution and ecology of seven species of Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae), Euscorpius 36 (36), pp. 1-40 : 23-27

Euscorpius italicus (Herbst, 1800)

( Figs. 17–20 , Table 7)

E. italicus is the largest species in the genus, and the largest scorpion species found in Italy, reaching about 50 mm in length. It is recorded from southern Europe and southwestern Asia: Albania, Croatia, France (introduced; Simon, 1879; Kinzelbach, 1982; Lacroix, 1991), Greece, northern and center Italy, Macedonia, Monaco, Montenegro, Romania (introduced), southwestern European Russia, San Marino, Slovenia (only coastal area; Fet et al., 2001), southern Switzerland, European and Asian Turkey; it was also introduced in northern Africa ( Algeria, Tunisia) and Middle East ( Iraq, Yemen) (Fet & Sissom, 2000). In Italy, E. italicus is common in northern and center regions, from Piedmont and Lombardy to Latium (excluding Liguria), and also on the Adriatic coast along Apennines from Friuli-Venezia Giulia south to Molise and Abruzzi ( Caporiacco, 1950; Crucitti, 1993). The author studied this species in Italy from five different regions: Emilia Romagna, Lombardy (where it was already recorded by Pavesi, 1878), Piedmont, Veneto, and Marche ( Fig. 20 ).

The altitudinal preference of E. italicus seems to range between 0 and 500 m a.s.l., while higher records are maybe due to its recent dispersal through human activities (Vachon, 1952, 1983; Fet & Gruodis, 1987, after Gantenbein et al., 2002). In Slovenia ( Fet et al., 2001), the highest record was ca. 700 m a.s.l. In this study, most of the specimens was found between sea level and 400 m a.s.l., with the highest collecting site (four specimens) in Cislano, Lombardy (ca. 650 m a.s.l.).

Most of E. italicus were found on rocky cliffs (50.6%) and near or inside buildings, mostly abandoned (39.2%) but also inhabited (8.9%). This species is highly thermophilous and seems to be the most tolerant to water scarcity: indeed, lots of specimens can be found in sun-exposed dry rocky cliffs. At the same time, E. italicus

Colombo: New Data on Distribution and Ecology of Euscorpius 27

Figures

Figure 17: Euscorpius (Polytrichobothrius) italicus, subadult female, Busto Arsizio (Lombardy, Italy) (photo by Giorgio Colombo).

Figure 18: A subadult female of E. italicus surprised catching a caterpillar (Malacosoma neustria) in Peschiera Maraglio (Lombardy, Italy) (photo by Giorgio Colombo).

Figure 19: High rocky cliffs are the most favorable environment for thermophylous species as E. italicus (Peschiera Maraglio, Lombardy, Italy) (photo by Giorgio Colombo).

Figure 20: E. italicus collecting sites. Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Marche, Veneto, and Piedmont (Italy): 1. Fermo; 2. Monte Isola; 3. Cislano; 4. Campo; 5. Ceraino; 6. Varallo Pombia; 7. Cernobbio; 8. Isola Comacina; 9. Onno; 10. Cittiglio; 11. Busto Arsizio; 12. Montichiari; 13. Ferrara; 14. Felino; 15. Montechiarugolo; 16. Torrechiara; 17. San Pietro in Cerro; 18. Castell’Arquato.