Euscorpius Thorell, 1876

Kovařík, František & Šťáhlavský, František, 2020, Five new species of Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) from Albania, Greece, North Macedonia, and Serbia, Euscorpius 315, pp. 1-37 : 1-2

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.4648646
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4772899
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/062F616D-B930-FF97-27EE-BA00FBA45898
treatment provided by	Carolina
scientific name	Euscorpius Thorell, 1876
status

Treatment

Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 View in CoL

( Figures 1–186 View Figures 1–9 View Figures 10–13 View Figures 14–23 View Figures 24–29 View Figures 30–37 View Figures 38–45 View Figures 46–49 View Figures 50–55 View Figures 56–63 View Figures 64–71 View Figures 72–79 View Figures 80–83 View Figures 84–90 View Figures 91–98 View Figures 99–106 View Figures 107–114 View Figures 115–118 View Figures 119–125 View Figures 126–133 View Figures 134–140 View Figures 141–148 View Figure 149 View Figures 150–153 View Figures 154–159 View Figures 160–167 View Figures 168–175 View Figures 176–183 View Figure 184 View Figures 185–186 , Tables 1–4 View Table 1 View Table 2 View Table 3 View Table 4 )

Euscorpius Thorell, 1876: 15 View in CoL ; Fet & Sissom, 2000: 357–377 (in part, complete reference list until 1998).

TYPE SPECIES. Scorpio carpathicus Linnaeus, 1767

DIAGNOSIS. Total length 20–50 mm. Movable fingers of pedipalp chela with MD aligned in a single straight row in entire length of chelal fingers; ID, IAD (5 in number) and OD present. OD are displaced to outer aspect of fingers. Pedipalp chela flat in appearance. Trichobothrial pattern type C. Two subdistal denticles present on cheliceral movable finger dorsal edge. Ventral edge of cheliceral movable finger smooth; serrula absent. Two pedal spurs present on legs. Tarsal spurs on legs absent. Sternum pentagonal in shape. Hemispermatophore lamelliform in shape with broad trunks. Telson without subaculear tubercle. Metasoma I–IV with single median carina usually absent.

Taxonomic characters.

Characters important for distinguishing species in the genus Euscorpius are: (1) trichobothriotaxy of the pedipalp patella, i. e., number of trichobothria in the external series eb, eb a, esb, em, est, and et, in combination with the number of ventral trichobothria; (2) shape and dimensions of the carapace, pedipalp and metasomal segments; (3) granulation and carination of metasomal segments; (4) coloration; and (5) pectinal tooth count. Two currently valid subgenera can be separated by the number of ventral trichobothria on the pedipalp chela manus, i. e., 4 in Euscorpius sensu stricto, and more than 6 in Polytrichobothrius Birula, 1917 . These characters alone are not always sufficient for distinguishing a total of ca. 60 species, most of which were described or revalidated in the last two decades. Taxonomy of this genus remains complex and challenging. Recently, DNA analysis was suggested to be the only solution to this problem (see e. g. Parmakelis et al., 2013; Fet et al., 2018). Based on our studies of this genus and the application of diagnostic characters to the related genus Megacormus Karsch, 1881 (Euscorpiidae) and to the related family Scorpiopidae Kraepelin, 1905 , we here propose application of two additional characters to elucidate taxonomy of Euscorpius .