Euscorpius koci Tropea & Yağmur, 2015

Yağmur, Ersen Aydın, 2021, On R. Kinzelbach‘s euscorpiid specimens from Turkey deposited in the Naturhistorisches Museum Mainz, Germany (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae), Euscorpius 334, pp. 1-5 : 3

Euscorpius koci Tropea & Yağmur, 2015

( Figures 5–6 )

Euscorpius carpathicus: Kinzelbach, 1982: 61 (in part). Euscorpius koci Tropea & Yağmur, 2015: 26 , figs. 19–36,

40–42; Şenol & Karataş, 2021: 28.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. Turkey, Mersin Province, Silifke District, Cennet –Cehennem Caves, entrance of the Cennet Cave , 133 m a. s. l., 36°27'09"N 34°06'20"E, 17 August 1975, 2 ♂, leg. R. Kinzelbach (NMM/0248) .

TRICHOBOTHRIAL AND PECTINAL TOOTH VARIATION.

The variation observed in 2 examined males is given below.

Pectinal teeth in males: 9/9 (1), 8/8 (1).

Pedipalp patella trichobothria Pv: 7/8 (1), 9/9 (1).

Pedipalp patella trichobothria Pe: et = 6/6 (2); est = 4/4 (2); em 4/4 (2); esb = 2/2 (2); eb a = 4/4 (2); eb = 4/4 (2).

COMMENTS. Euscorpius koci was described by Tropea & Yağmur (2015) from the Mersin Province; it is characterized by Pv = 6, et =4. This is the only known species of the genus Euscorpius in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey. A DNA phylogeny ( Tropea et al., 2016, fig. 20) places it, together with three more Anatolian taxa ( E. alanyaensis , E. gocmeni , and E. lycius ) in a clade closest to the mainland Greek species E. kinzelbachi and E. scaber .

Kinzelbach (1982) collected two male specimens at the entrance of the Cennet Cave, a rather famous locality. The Cennet Cave (in English, “The Heaven Cave”) is a large sinkhole in the Taurus Mountains (Mersin Province). It is located next to the Cehennem Cave (in English, “The Hell Cave”), with another large sinkhole. Both caves are also known as the Corycian Caves (in German, “Korykische Grotten”). The entrance of the Cennet Cave is 250 x 110 m 2; its depth is nearly 70 m. To reach its bottom, one descends a 300-step ladder. At the bottom, in the south direction, there is another smaller cave 150 steps deep. In the depth of the cave, there are ruins of a monastery built in the 5th century AD by a man called Paulus and dedicated to Virgin Mary.

Vachon (1951) reported records of two other scorpion species from the Cennet Cave, Iurus dufoureius asiaticus Birula, 1903 (Iuridae) and Mesobuthus gibbosus (Brullé, 1832) (now Aegaeobuthus gibbosus ) ( Buthidae ). The I. d. asiaticus record was corrected as Iurus kraepelini von Ubisch, 1922 by KovařÍk et al. (2010) and the species was transferred to the genus Protoiurus by Soleglad et al. (2012).

The Cennet Cave is located at the distance of 35 km from Koramışlı Village, the type locality of Euscorpius koci . Coloration and trichobothrial pattern of the specimens completely match those reported by Tropea & Yağmur (2015) in E. koci . Tropea & Yağmur (2015) reported three localities for species. Recently, Şenol & Karataş (2021) reported three more localities. The present record is the seventh known locality of E. koci , all in the Mersin Province.

Figures

Figures 1–6: Specimens deposited in NMM including labels. Figures 1–2. Female Alpiscorpius phrygius. Figures 3–4. Juvenile Euscorpius avcii. Figures 5–6. Two males Euscorpius koci.