Alpiscorpius mingrelicus (Kessler, 1874) Kovařík & Štundlová & Fet & Šťáhlavský, 2019

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 : 15-16

“ mingrelicus compleX”

DIAGNOSIS: Total length of adults 18–40 mm. Pedipalp chela with 4 trichobothria (3 V, Et 1) on ventral surface. Patella of pedipalp with 3 eXternal trichobothria in em group, 4–5 eXternal trichobothria in et group, and 5–6 ventral trichobothria. Pedipalp chela fiXed finger with trichobothrium est located distinctly closer to dsb than to et; et-est/est-dsb distance ratio is about 2 ( Fig. 44). Metasoma V ventrally without carinae, finely to strongly granulated, rarely smooth.

COMPOSITION. We subdivide all valid species of the “ mingrelicus compleX” into informal “ gamma group” and “ mingrelicus group” according to their DNA-based phylogeny ( Graham et al., 2012; Fet et al., 2016; ŠtundlovÁ et al., 2019). The karyotypic identity is currently known only for the “ gamma group” ( ŠtundlovÁ et al., 2019). Geographic distribution of these two groups is disjunct.

SUBORDINATE TAXA (9 SPECIES). “ gamma group” (Europe; see Comments): Alpiscorpius beroni ( Fet, 2000) , comb. n. ( Albania) A. gamma ( Di Caporiacco, 1950) , comb. n. ( Slovenia,? Italy,

? Croatia) A. omega sp. n. ( Slovenia) A. omikron sp. n. ( Slovenia) A. sigma sp. n. ( Italy, Slovenia) A. ypsilon sp. n. ( Austria, Slovenia) “ mingrelicus group” ( Anatolia and Caucasus): A. mingrelicus (Kessler, 1874) , comb. n. ( Georgia, Russia,

Turkey) A. phrygius ( Bonacina, 1980) , comb. n. ( Turkey) A. uludagensis (LacroiX, 1995), comb. n. ( Turkey)

COMMENTS. Including new taXa described in this paper, the “ mingrelicus compleX” includes 9 species inhabiting the large region from the Eastern Alps ( Austria, Italy, Slovenia), the Balkan Peninsula, Anatolia, and the Caucasus Mts. ( Turkey, Georgia, Russia). The Anatolian-Caucasian taXa of this compleX were recently revised ( Tropea et al., 2015); in this revision, Alpiscorpius mingrelicus (Kessler, 1874) was limited to Anatolia and Caucasus.

At the same time, the widespread Alpiscorpius spp. from the Balkans ( Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia), formerly listed under Euscorpius gamma or E. mingrelicus ( Bonacina, 1980; Fet & Sissom, 2000; Graham et al., 2012), currently remain unrevised and unassigned.Available names, potentially applicable to some of these populations, are: Scorpius bosnensis von Möllendorff, 1873 ; Euscorpius germanus dinaricus Di Caporiacco, 1950 ; E. germanus histrorum Di Caporiacco, 1950 ; and E. mingrelicus caporiaccoi Bonacina, 1980 (Fet & Sissom, 2000). See also discussion below on E. germanus mesotrichus Hadži, 1929 .

From the “ mingrelicus compleX”, ŠtundlovÁ et al. (2019) analyzed 23 Alpine populations which represent four new, cryptic species of the “ gamma group”, different from A. gamma ( Di Caporiacco, 1950) comb. n.