Euscorpius

Euscorpius
Euscorpius balearicus is a very pale species
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Subclass: Dromopoda
Order: Scorpiones
Family: Euscorpiidae
Subfamily: Euscorpiinae
Genus: Euscorpius
Thorell, 1876
Subgenera

Alpiscorpius Gantenbein, Fet, Largiader & Scholl, 1999
Euscorpius Thorell, 1876
Polytrichobothrius Birula, 1917
Tetratrichobothrius Birula, 1917

Synonyms

Acanthothraustes Mello-Leitão, 1945
Scorpius Poda, 1761
[1]

Euscorpius is a genus of scorpions, commonly called small wood-scorpions. It presently contains 17 species (but see below) and is the type genus of the family Euscorpiidae - long included in the Chactidae[2] - and the subfamily Euscorpiinae.

The most common members belong to the E. carpathicus species complex, which makes up the subgenus Euscorpius.[1] This group is widespread from North Africa and Spain to temperate Eurasia from England and northern France through the Czech Republic to Russia.[2]

The species range in colour from yellow-brown to dark brown. Many are brown with yellow legs and stinger. The largest is E. italicus at 5 cm (2 in), and the smallest is E. germanus at 1.5 cm (0.6 in). The venom of Euscorpius species is generally very weak, with effects similar to a mosquito bite. Some smaller specimens may not even be able to puncture the human skin with their stings.

Species[3]

The genus is currently undergoing revision and the status of taxa is liable to change.

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Teruel & Fet (2005)
  2. 1 2 Rein (2008a)
  3. Rein (2008b,c)
  4. Tropea, Gioele; Yagmur, Ersen; Koç, Halil; Yeşilyurt, Fatih; Rossi, Andrea (2012). "A new species of Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Scorpiones, Euscorpiidae) from Turkey". ZooKeys 219: 63–80. doi:10.3897/zookeys.219.3597.

References

External links

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