Alpiscorpius Gantenbein, Fet, Largiadèr & Scholl, 1999

Kovařík, František, Štundlová, Jana, Fet, Victor & Šťáhlavský, František, 2019, Seven new Alpine species of the genus Alpiscorpius Gantenbein et al., 1999, stat. n. (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae), Euscorpius 287, pp. 1-29 : 3-4

Genus Alpiscorpius Gantenbein, Fet, Largiadèr & Scholl, 1999 , stat. n.

( Figures 1–71, Tables 1–5) http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8B1B5643-

98A4-4C2D-9A23-02 D95044 B401

Euscorpius (Alpiscorpius) Gantenbein, Fet, Largiadèr & Scholl, 1999: 55 .

DIAGNOSIS: Movable fingers of pedipalps chela with denticles in a single row. Movable fingers bear 7 rows of denticles with inner and outer denticles. Outer accessory denticles (OAD) on chelal fingers are not present; inner accessory denticles (IAD) of chelal movable finger are paired with five inner denticles, without eXhibiting other inner accessory denticles. Cheliceral movable finger dorsal edge with two small subdistal (sd) denticles; ventral edge smooth. Ventral distal denticle (vd) conspicuously longer than dorsal (dd). Cheliceral fiXed finger with four denticles, median (m) and basal (b) denticles conjoined on common trunk; no ventral accessory denticles present. Ventral edge of cheliceral movable finger smooth; serrula is absent. Patella of pedipalp with 3 eXternal trichobothria in em group. Dorsal Patellar Spur (DPS) is not well developed, but instead very reduced ( Soleglad & Sissom, 2001, figs. 149, 150). The telson vesicle of seXually mature males is not symmetrically swollen from a lateral aspect, but swollen more at the base, tapering towards the elongated aculeus, which lacks any trace of a subaculear tubercle (as defined by the subaculear setal pair) ( Soleglad & Sissom, 2001, figs. 179, 180). The ventral median spinule row of leg tarsus does not terminate in a pair of well-developed spinules but instead terminates in an offset single spinule ( Soleglad & Sissom, 2001, Table 6).

TYPE SPECIES: Scorpius germanus C. L. Koch, 1837 .

COMMENTS. We subdivide all valid species of the genus Alpiscorpius Gantenbein et al., 1999 into two informal compleXes, which form monophyletic clades (Scherabon et al., 2000; Graham et al., 2012; Fet et al., 2016; ŠtundlovÁ et al., 2019): “ germanus compleX” and “ mingrelicus compleX”. Morphologically, these clades are easily diagnosed by the position of pedipalp fiXed finger trichobothria et, est, and dsb (see diagnosis and Figs. 44 versus 8). This character, quantified as et-est/est-dsb distance ratio, was first introduced by Bonacina (1980). It is useful to distinguish two compleXes (especially when their species are sympatric, e.g. in Slovenia); however, a broad intraspecific variation makes it difficult to apply the etest/est-dsb ratio to distinguishing related species. For eXample, Fet & Braunwalder (2005) calculated et-est/est-dsb ratio for E. germanus from Val Müstair population ( Switzerland), which had mean 1.14, SD= 0.16 (n=88), and Tropea et al. (2015: 23) reported a mean et-est/est-dsb ratio in eXamined E. germanus specimens as 1.16, with a range of 0.90–1.33. For three Anatolian-Caucasian species of the “ mingrelicus compleX”, Tropea et al. (2015) reported a wide variation, with a mean ratio of 1.8 to 2.4, and a range of 1.69 to 3.23.

Including new taXa described in this paper, the “ germanus compleX” currently comprises 6 valid species, all endemic to the Alps ( Austria, Italy, Slovenia, and Switzerland; Fig. 71); all these species were analyzed by ŠtundlovÁ et al. (2019). The “ mingrelicus compleX” currently includes 9 valid species inhabiting the large region covering the Eastern Alps ( Austria, Italy, Slovenia), part of the Balkan Peninsula, Anatolia, and the Caucasus Mts. (northeast Turkey, Georgia, Russia). A detailed revision of the Anatolian-Caucasian taXa was recently published by Tropea et al. (2015). The European (mostly Balkan) populations of this compleX remain unrevised ( Graham et al., 2012).

In addition to the et-est/est-dsb ratio, members of the “ mingrelicus compleX” were traditionally differentiated from the “ germanus compleX” by fine to strong granulation on the ventral surface of metasoma V, which is smooth in all members of the “ germanus compleX” ( Di Caporiacco, 1950; Graham et al., 2012). However, three of the four new Alpine species of the “ mingrelicus compleX” described here, have metasoma V ventral surface almost smooth; only the fourth species A. sigma sp. n., has metasoma V finely granulated ( Figs. 46–47 versus 51–52).

Taxa Karyotype Distribution

( Štundlová et al., 2019)

“ germanus complex”

“ alpha group” ( Italy, Switzerland)

Alpiscorpius alpha ( Di Caporiacco, 1950) , comb. n. Karyotypic race II (Eal 90), 2n=90 Italy (Lombardy)

Switzerland (Ticino, Grisons)

Alpiscorpius beta ( Di Caporiacco, 1950) , comb. n., stat. n. Karyotypic race I (Eal 60), 2n=60 Italy (Piedmont, Val d’Aosta), Switzerland (Valais)

Alpiscorpius delta sp. n. Karyotypic race III (Eal 54), 2n=54 Italy (Lombardy, South Tyrol , Trentino, Veneto)

“ germanus group” ( Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia)

Alpiscorpius germanus (C. L. Koch, 1837) , comb. n. Karyotypic race I (Ege46a), 2n=46 Italy (Friuli-Venetia Giulia, South Tyrol , Trentino, Veneto)

Austria, Switzerland (Grisons)

Alpiscorpius kappa sp. n. Karyotypic race III (Ege46c), 2n=46 Slovenia (Gorenjska, Goriška)

Alpiscorpius lambda sp. n. Karyotypic race II (Ege46b), 2n=46 Slovenia (Goriška, Notranjska),? Italy

“ mingrelicus complex” (Europe)

“ gamma group”*

Alpiscorpius beroni ( Fet, 2000) , comb. n. Unknown Albania

Alpiscorpius gamma ( Di Caporiacco, 1950) , comb. n. 2n=78 Slovenia (Goriška);? Italy;? Croatia Alpiscorpius omega sp. n. Karyotypic race IV (Ega 88), 2n=88 Slovenia (Dolenjska, Gorenjska, Štajerska)

Alpiscorpius omikron sp. n. Karyotypic race II (Ega58), 2n=58 Slovenia (Gorenjska)

Alpiscorpius sigma sp. n. Karyotypic race II (Ega60), 2n=60 Italy (Friuli-Venezia Giulia), Slovenia (Gorenjska)

Alpiscorpius ypsilon sp. n. Karyotypic race III (Ega86-92), Austria, Slovenia (Gorenjska, Štajerska) 2n=86 to 92

* Alpiscorpius spp. recorded from the Balkans ( Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia), formerly listed under Euscorpius gamma or E. mingrelicus , are currently unrevised and unassigned.

“ mingrelicus group” ( Anatolia and Caucasus)

Alpiscorpius mingrelicus (Kessler, 1874) , comb. n. Unknown Georgia, Russia (North Caucasus), Turkey

Alpiscorpius phrygius ( Bonacina, 1980) , comb. n. Unknown Turkey

Alpiscorpius uludagensis (Lacroix, 1995) , comb. n. Unknown Turkey