Hidden diversity ofEuscorpius(Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) in Greece revealed by multilocus species-delimitation approaches

Abstract

Phylogenetic analysis of the genus Euscorpius (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) across the Mediterranean region (86 specimens, 77 localities, four DNA markers: 16S rDNA, COI, COII, and ITS1), focusing on Greek fauna, revealed high variation, deep clade divergences, many cryptic lineages, paraphyly at subgenus level, and sympatry of several new and formerly known lineages. Numerous specimens from mainland and insular Greece, undoubtedly the least studied region of the genus' distribution, have been included. The reconstructed phylogeny covers representative taxa and populations across the entire genus of Euscorpius. The deepest clades detected within Euscorpius correspond (partially) to its current subgeneric division, outlining subgenera Tetratrichobothrius and Alpiscorpius. The rest of the genus falls into several clades, including subgenus Polytrichobothrius and a paraphyletic subgenus Euscorpius s.s. Several cryptic lineages are recovered, especially on the islands. The inadequacy of the morphological characters used in the taxonomy of the genus to delineate species is discussed. Finally, the time frame of differentiation of Euscorpius in the study region is estimated and the distributional patterns of the lineages are contrasted with those of other highly diversified invertebrate genera occurring in the study region.

Patterns and processes in the distribution of European centipedes (Chilopoda)

“…Consistent with previous studies (e.g. Dennis et al, 2000;Fattorini, 2002;Hausdorf & Hennig, 2005;Simaiakis & Mart ınez-Morales, 2010;Strona et al, 2012;Parmakelis et al, 2013) our results highlighted the role of palaeogeographical events and geographical configuration on biodiversity and species assemblage patterns.…”

“…In Europe, one of the most thoroughly investigated regions of the world in terms of biodiversity (Fontaine et al, 2012), this problem is not as great as in other continents, although some groups have received more attention than others (e.g. Dennis et al, 2000;Allegrucci et al, 2009;Papadopoulou et al, 2009;C ßiplak et al, 2010;Fattorini & Baselga, 2012;Fiera & Ulrich, 2012;Parmakelis et al, 2013;Ulrich & Fattorini, 2013).…”

Cryptic species and co‐diversification in sand scorpions from the Karakum and Kyzylkum deserts of Central Asia

“…Detailed phylogeographic studies of wide‐ranging scorpion species continue to discover that scorpions found across large areas and diverse habitat types often represent cryptic complexes of more stenotypic species (Bryson et al, , ; Habel et al, ; Parmakelis et al, ; Sousa et al, ). Such is the case for the Mesobuthus caucasicus complex (Fet et al, ).…”

Another new species of Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 from the Taurus Mountains in Antalya Province, southern Turkey (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae)

“…DNA extraction, PCR amplifications and sequencing was performed as described in Parmakelis et al (2013). Sequence editing and alignment was performed using Codon Code Aligner v.2.06.…”

“…The remaining five species, E. avcii, E. koci, E. gocmeni, E. lycius and E. rahsenae, are similar to the forms of the subgenus Euscorpius, with the trichobothrial number on the pedipalp manus ventral surface 4 (V 1-3 + Et 1 ) and the trichobothrial series on the pedipalp patella external surface em = 4. However, the diagnostic characters of the subgenus Euscorpius are currently obsolete, as this traditional subgenus appears to be paraphyletic (Parmakelis et al, 2013;. Therefore, the five above mentioned Turkish species, as well as E. alanyaensis sp.…”