1997. The Journal of Arachnology 25 :106–108

RESEARCH NOTE

A NOTE ON EUSCORPIUS CARPATHICUS (SCORPIONES, CHACTIDAE) FROM THE

Euscorpius carpathicus (L. 1767) (Chacti- the Yaila range which runs latitudinally across dae), a scorpion species fairly common in the peninsula. southern Europe where it ranges from Spai n Following the technique developed fo r to , has been extensively studied (e .g. , scorpions by Vachon (1963, 1975), I scored Birula 1917; Hadzi 1930 ; Caporiacco 1950 ; numbers of trichobothria on the pedipalp pa- Vachon, 1963, 1975, 1978; Curcio 1972; Kin- tella, which, in Euscorpius, vary both among zelbach 1975 ; Fet 1986 ; Sherabon, 1987). and within local populations . Ventral tricho- There are 24 described subspecies ; and, for bothria form a single row (Tv), whereas ex- most, the taxonomic status is unclear . Many ternal ones appear in six clusters: termina l of these forms are somewhat geographicall y (et), subterminal (est), median (em), suprabas - isolated; for example, nearly every Mediter- al (esb), and two basal groups (ebQ and eb). ranean island (e .g., Mallorca, Sardinia, Sicily, There is no sexual dimorphism. Numbers may Crete) has an endemic subspecies . vary between left and right pedipalp, but such The Crimea Peninsula (currently an admin- asymmetry is a subject of a separate study. istrative territory within Ukraine) houses the Trichobothrial numbers scored for the Cri- easternmost, disjunct population of E. car- mean population were : Tv = 7 (20 cases , pathicus . It is the only species of scorpio n 14.3%), Tv = 8 (119 cases, 85.0%) and Tv = found in the Crimea. This population was first 9 (1 case, 0 .7%%) (number of scored pedi- recorded from by Pallas (1795) . It was palps, 140) ; et 5 (14 cases, 10 .0%), et = 6 described by C.L. Koch (1838) as Scorpius (126 cases, 89 .4%) and et = 7 (1 case, 0.6%) tauricus and for many years was treated as a (n = 141) . Numbers of external trichobothria separate, endemic species . Birula (1917) listed in other five groups did not vary and were : it as Euscorpius tauricus (C .L. Koch) and est = 4, em = 4, esb 2, ebn = 4, eb = 4. gave a detailed description of its anatomy and Although some authors (urcio 1972 ; Kinzel- biology. Caporiacco (1950) synonymized it as bach 1975) attempted to discuss clinal varia- a subspecies of Euscorpius carpathicus (L.). tion in trichobothria within E. carpathicus, The original material from the Crimea has not few data are published that can be used for been analyzed since 1917 . comparison to the population above . Kinzel- The studied sample included 71 specimen s bach (1975) gave an qualitative overview of (176, 549) from the following localities of many samples from the Balkan Peninsula and the Crimea Peninsula (area between 33--35°E the Aegean Sea islands, using only the Tv in- and 44—45°N) : , Balaklava, Frunzen- dex. He recognized not one but two species: skoye, , Inkerman, , Nikitsky an "oligotrichous" E. carpathicus (L.) with Botanical Garden, , , Sim- Tv = 7—8 and a "polytrichous" E. mesotri- eiz, , , , . chus Hadzi with Tv = 10—12, which produc e The studied specimens are deposited in th e hybrid "mesotrichous" forms with Tv = 9 — Zoological Institute of the Russian Academ y 10. This division was not accepted by othe r of Sciences (St . Petersburg, ) and in the authors (Vachon 1978 ; Fet 1986, 1989 ; Scher- Zoological Museum of the Moscow State Uni- abon 1987) . versity (Moscow, Russia) . Detailed label data The Crimean population has values of Tv are published in Fet (1989) . The majority of close to 8 6(mean Tv = 7.86, s2 0.13) an d this material originated from the et close to (mean et = 5 .90; sz 0.10). Tv coast (southern parts of the peninsula), know n from 7—8 and et = 6 are found in certain pop- for its mild climate due to the protection of ulations from northeastern Greece (Kinzel - 106

FET—EUSCORPIUS FROM THE CRIMEA 107

bach 1975 ; Fet 1986) . On the other hand, tri- Pleistocene interglacials . The source of such chobothrial numbers of Tv = 9-10 and et = migration, then, should have been "oligotri- 7, which are common throughout the Balkans chous" populations of eastern Balkans (wit h and Crete (Fet 1986), are very rare (< 1%) i n Tv = 7-8 and et = 6). Further comparative the analyzed Crimean sample . Populations of studies should assess the criteria for subspe- E. carpathicus farther westward are charac- cific structure of E. carpathicus. terized by the forms with higher values of Tv = 10-12, and et = 7-8, e .g ., in Austria (mean ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Tv = 10 .25, s 2 = 1 .04; mean et = 7 .47, s 2 = I thank Vladimir I . Ovtsharenko (St . Pe- 0.38; Scherabon 1987) or Sardinia (mean T v tersburg) and Kirill G . Mikhailov (Moscow) = 11 .01, s2 = 0 .36; mean et = 7 .32, s2 = 0 .67; for their permission to work with Russian mu- Vachon 1978) . Means of trichobothrial scores seum collections ; and W. Starega (Warsaw , of the Austrian and Sardinian populations ar e ) for the loan of material . I am es- not significantly different ; t-values are 0 .9 3 pecially thankful to Mikhail Eidelberg, Serge i for Tv (P > 0 .5) and 0 .28 for et (P > 0 .7) . Sharygin, and Konstantin Yefetov who col- However, the mean of the Crimean populatio n lected scorpions from the Crimea on my re - significantly differs from a combined Austria/ quest, and to Matt Braunwalder (Zurich, Swit- Sardinia sample (mean Tv = 10 .67, s2 = 0.30; zerland) for his constant and invaluable hel p mean et = 7 .40; s2 = 0 .40) . For this compar- in obtaining literature . ison, t-values are 6 .85 for Tv (P < 0 .001) and 2.74 for et (P < 0 .01) . According to Kinzel- LITERATURE CITED bachs (1975) terminology, the Crimean pop- Birula, A . (Byalynitsky-Birula, A .A .). 1917. Fauna ulation is the sensu stricto "oligotrichous" E. of Russia and adjacent countries . Arachnoidea . carpathicus (L .) . Vol. I . Scorpions . Petrograd, 224 pp . (in Rus- The isolated zoogeographic position of thi s sian); English translation by Israel Program fo r Crimean scorpion, and that of many Crimean Scientific Translations, Jerusalem 1965, 154 pp . animal and plant populations, is unique for th e Caporiacco, L . di. 1950. Le specie e sottospeci e del genre "Euscorpius" viventi in Italia ed i species range : the closest populations of E. n alcune zone confinanti . Memorie/Accademia na- carpathicus are those in Romania, about 500 zionale dei Lincei . Classe di scienze fisiche, ma- km westward. The reason for such disjunction tematiche e naturali, (8) 2 Scz. 3a, 4:159–230. should be sought in the paleogeographical his- Curci6, B .P.M . 1972. Considerations upon the geo - tory of the Crimea, which is relatively wel l graphic distribution and origin of some popula- studied (Golovach 1984) . This area originated tions in the genus Euscorpius Thorell (Chactidae , as an island of the Tethys Sea during the Me- Scorpiones) . Rapp . Comm . Internat . Mer Medi- sozoic and throughout the Tertiary period was terranee, Monaco, 21 :83–88 . connected many times to different land mass - Fet, V. 1986. Notes on some Euscorpius (Scorpi- es (Caucasus, Balkan Peninsula, Anatolia, an- ones, Chactidae) from Greece and Turkey . Riv. d/or modem Ukraine) when the sea regressed . Mus . Scien . Natur. E . Caffi (Bergamo), 9 :3–11 . Fet, V. 1989 . A catalogue of scorpions (Chelicer- There are no Tertiary relicts in the Crimea ; ata: Scorpiones) of the USSR . Riv. Mus. Scien . and all endemic plants there are generall y Natur. E . Caffi (Bergamo), 13 :73–171 . very recent (Grosset 1979) . Severe Pleisto- Golovach, S .I. 1984. Distribution and faunogenesis cene glaciations in Europe (the last one, th e of the Diplopoda of the European USSR . Pp . 92 Wiirm Ice Age, 70,000-11,000 years BP, cor- 138, In Faunogenesis and Phylocenogenesis . responds to the Wisconsin of North America ) (Chernov, Yu .I ., ed.) . Nauka, Moscow (in Rus - could have eliminated most of ancient ther- sian). mophile and mesophile Mediterranean specie s Grosset, G .E. 1979. On the origin of flora of the of the Crimea . Golovach (1984) analyzed the Crimea . Byulleten MOIP (Bull . Moscow Soc . ; 84:64–84 ; Part 2; 84: diplopod fauna in the Crimea, and suggested Natur.), Div . Biol ., Part 1 35–55 (in Russian) . that its age is primarily Pleistocene and th e Hadzi, J . 1930. Die europaischen Skorpione de s source of migration was the eastern Mediter- Polnischen Zoologischen Staatsmuseums in War- ranean, especially the Balkan Peninsula . It can szawa . Annal . Mus . Zool . Polonici, 9 :29–38 . be suggested that the existence of E. c. taur- Kinzelbach, R . 1975 . Die Skorpione der Agais . icus is the a result of a (possibly recent) mi- Beitrage zur Systematik, Phylogenie and Biogeo- gration from the Balkan Peninsula in the graphie. Zool . Jahrb . (Syst.), 102:12–50 .

108 THE JOURNAL OF ARACHNOLOGY

Koch, C .L. 1838. Die Arachniden. C .H. Zehsch e Vachon, M . 1975. Recherches sur les Scorpions Buchhandlung, Nurnberg, 4 :1-144. appartenant ou deposes au Museum dHistoir e Pallas, P.S. 1795. A brief physical and topograph- naturelle de Geneve . 1 . Rev. Suisse Zool., 82 : ical description of the Taurian Region. St. Pe- 629-645. tersburg (in Russian) . Vachon, M . 1978. Remarques sur Euscorpius car- Scherabon, B . 1987. Die Skorpione Osterreiches in pathicus (Linne, 1767) canestrinii (Fanzago, vergleichender Sicht unter besonderer Berucksi- 1872) (Scorpionida, Chactidae) . Annal. Hist .-Na- chtung Karntens . Pp. 77-154, In Karinthia II, 45 . tur. Mus. Nat. Hungarici, 70:321-330 . Sonderheft, Klagenfurt . Vachon, M. 1963. Remarques sur 1utilisation, e n Victor Fet : Department of Biological Sci- systematique, des soies sensorielles (trichoboth- ences, Marshall University, Huntington , ries) chez les Scorpions du genre Euscorpius West Virginia 25755-2510 US A Thorell (Chactidae) . Bull . Mus. Nat. dHist. Na- tur. (Paris), 34 :347-354 . Received 1 March 1996, revised 11 October 1996.