Euscorpius is the first research publication completely devoted to scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Euscorpius takes advantage of the rapidly evolving medium of quick online publication, at the same time maintaining high research standards for the burgeoning field of scorpion science (scorpiology). Euscorpius is an expedient and viable medium for the publication of serious papers in scorpiology, including (but not limited to): systematics, evolution, ecology, biogeography, and general biology of scorpions. Review papers, descriptions of new taxa, faunistic surveys, lists of museum collections, and book reviews are welcome. Derivatio Nominis The name Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 refers to the most common genus of scorpions in the Mediterranean region and southern Europe (family Euscorpiidae).
The Filistatinae genus Sahastata Benoit, 1968 is distributed in arid and semi-arid areas, from westernmost Sahara to India, and includes seven known species. Four of these are only known from one sex, including Sahastata nigra (Simon, 1897), the type species. Here we present the first description of a male of this species collected near the type locality in Muscat, Oman. Additionally, two new species are described: S. wunderlichi sp. nov. (♂♀, Morocco) and S. wesolowskae sp. nov. (♂♀, Oman). Sahastata infuscata (Kulczyński, 1901) is newly recorded from Kenya and Yemen and S. nigra is newly recorded from the United Arab Emirates. DNA barcodes are given for S. nigra and the two new species. We observed some details of the life cycle of three Sahastata species, including clutch size, time to maturation, and a biased sex ratio for individuals raised from egg sacs, indicating that only 20–25% of specimens reaching adulthood are males. We provide SEM images of spiders of this genus, some observations on the morphology of spinnerets and male palps, and a distribution map of the species included in the genus.
We examined the distribution of genes for major ribosomal RNAs (rDNA) on holokinetic chromosomes of 74 species belonging to 19 genera of scorpions from the family Buthidae using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Our analysis revealed differences between the two main evolutionary lineages within the family. The genera belonging to the ‘Buthus group’, with a proposed Laurasian origin, possess one pair of rDNA mainly in an interstitial position, with the only exceptions being the terminal location found in some Hottentotta and Buthacus species, possibly as a result of chromosome fissions. All the remaining buthid ‘groups’ possess rDNA found strictly in a terminal position. However, the number of signals may increase from an ancestral state of one pair of rDNA loci to up to seven signals in Reddyanus ceylonensis Kovařík et al., 2016. Despite the differences in evolutionary dynamics of the rDNA clusters between the ‘Buthus group’ and other lineages investigated, we found a high incidence of reciprocal translocations and presence of multivalent associations during meiosis in the majority of the genera studied. These phenomena seem to be typical for the whole family Buthidae.
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