Belisarius ibericus
| Belisarius ibericus | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Belisarius ibericus | ||||||||||||
| Lourenço , 2015 |
Belisarius ibericus is a scorpion widespreadin the Sierra de las Nieves in southern Spain . The family membership to the genus Belisarius is controversial, it belongs to the family Troglotayosicidae or Superstitioniidae .
description
Belisarius ibericus is a small scorpion with a reddish-yellow to reddish-brown base color and darker carinae, the chelae are darker than the patellae and femora . The ventral side and legs are yellow with pale yellow crest organs and genital perculum . The pedipalps are dark red to reddish brown with dark to black carinae. The telson has a spherical but flattened yellow poisonous bladder and a dark red, short and strongly curved poison sting . The limbs have very weak granulation or are smooth, the carapace and tergites have only small granules on the surface. The anterior carapace has a slight indentation. The median pair of eyes is missing, the lateral ones have receded except for one remaining lens. The sternum is pentagonal and slightly wider than it is long, the crest organs in the holotype have four teeth on both sides.
Belisarius ibericus is a significantly larger scorpion compared to Belisarius xambeui , the only other species in the genus Belisarius , the holotype has a body length of 37.8 millimeters. The largest female specimen of Belisarius xambeui found to date is only 27.6 millimeters long. Belisarius ibericus has a more pronounced indentation of the anterior carapace. The eyes are less regressed, with at least one lens remaining. The carinae on the pedipalps and the segments of the metasoma are more pronounced.
distribution and habitat
The terra typica of Belisarius ibericus is located in the southern Spanish province of Málaga , southeast of the small town of Ronda in the Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park ( 36 ° 41 ′ 0 ″ N , 5 ° 0 ′ 0 ″ W ) at an altitude of 800 to 860 meters above sea level Sea level. The holotype was found under stones near a cave entrance.
The Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park has been a biosphere reserve since 1995 and is characterized by its limestone mountains traversed by deep gorges . The nature park has a rich flora and fauna. The forest cover and the heavier rainfall give the park a milder climate compared to the lower lying areas on the coasts of the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Systematics
Initial description
It was first described by the French-Brazilian arachnologist Wilson R. Lourenço in 2015 in the journal Comptes Rendus Biologies .
Type material
The holotype is an adult female scorpion that was collected at the type site in May 1952 and is in the collection of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris.
etymology
The species name refers to the Iberian Peninsula as the region in which the new species was discovered.
literature
- Wilson R. Lourenço: The genus Belisarius Simon, 1879 (Scorpiones: Troglotayosicidae), with the description of a new vicariant species from the south of Spain. In: Comptes Rendus Biologies 2015, Volume 338, No. 5, pp. 362-367, doi : 10.1016 / j.crvi.2015.03.014 .