Molecular and morphological evidence for the presence of a new Buthid taxon (Scorpiones: Buthidae) on the Island of Cyprus

Abstract

Molecular and morphological evidence for the presence of a new Buthid taxon (Scorpiones: Buthidae) on the Island of Cyprus. -Allozyme data (16 loci) from Mesobuthus gibbosus populations in the eastern Mediterranean region show that the Cyprus population is highly distinct, although morphological differentiation is rather weak. This provides evidence for a 'hidden' taxon on Cyprus. This island population 1s described as a new species.

Phylogenetic relationships ofMesobuthus eupeus(C.L. Koch, 1839) inferred fromCOIsequences (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

“…In the topology observed, the phylogenetic relationships within the Western clade were not clearly resolved as M. gibbosus was paraphyletic with respect to M. cyprius, suggesting that they may be synonymous. The latter species was described by Gantenbein et al(2000) based on allozyme data and morphological evidence from Cyprus. Also, the data are consistent with M. gibbosus consisting of more than one species as proposed by Parmakelis et al (2006).…”

“…In addition, Mesobuthus nigrocinctus has been recorded from Israel and Turkey Teruel 2000; Karataş and Karataş 2001;. It is widely accepted that the genus Mesobuthus includes at least 12 species (Fet and Lowe 2000;Gantenbein et al 2000). The modern distribution of the genus Mesobuthus extends from the Balkans through China, and its occurrence in northern parts of central Asia represents the northern limit of scorpion distribution in Asia (Fet 1994;Gromov 2001).…”

“…DNA sequence evidence was first presented by Gantenbein et al (1999) for assessing the phylogeny of the genus Euscorpius. The phylogeographical studies on euscorpiids (Gantenbein et al 1997(Gantenbein et al , 1999(Gantenbein et al , 2000Gantenbein and Scholl 1998;Gantenbein, Fet and Barker 2001;Huber et al 2001;Fet et al 2003;Salomone et al 2007) and buthids (Gantenbein et al 1999(Gantenbein et al , 2000(Gantenbein et al , 2005Gantenbein, Soleglad and Fet 2001;Gantenbein and Keightley 2004;Largiadèr 2002, 2003;Parmakelis et al 2006) using 2852 nuclear and mitochondrial markers revealed that many previously described species are in fact constituted by sibling species not easily differentiable based on morphological features. In some instances extensive genetic divergence had evolved in the absence of a significant morphological differentiation.…”

“…Some described species may in fact be composed of sibling species, and still novel species are being described. For instance, separate species such as Mesobuthus cyprius from Cyprus (Gantenbein et al 2000) and Mesobuthus songi from China (Lourenço et al 2005) were described. In addition, Mesobuthus nigrocinctus has been recorded from Israel and Turkey Teruel 2000; Karataş and Karataş 2001;.…”

A new species of the genus Mesobuthus Vachon, 1950 (Scorpiones, Buthidae) from Xinjiang, China

“…Th e genus Mesobuthus Vachon, 1950 currently includes 12 species (Fet and Lowe 2000;Gantenbein et al 2000;Lourenço et al 2005;Kovařík 2007), and it is widespread in the Palearctic region, from Balkans to China and Korea Peninsula. It is distributed in diff erent habitats, but especially in the arid deserts, from Gobi to Central Asia and to Northwest China and Mongolia.…”