A new species of Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Scorpiones, Euscorpiidae) from Turkey

Abstract A new species of the genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876is described based on specimens collected from Dilek Peninsula (Davutlar, Aydın) in Turkey. It is characterized by an oligotrichous trichobothrial pattern (Pv= 7, et= 5/6, eb= 4) and small size. Euscorpius (Euscorpius) avcii sp. n. is the first named species of the subgenus Euscorpius from Turkey.

The trichobothrial notations follow Vachon (1974). The morphological measurements are given in millimeters (mm) following Stahnke (1970). The morphological nomenclature follows Stahnke (1970), Hjelle (1990) and Sissom (1990); the chela carinae and denticle configuration follows Soleglad and Sissom (2001) and sternum terminology follows Soleglad and Fet (2003); description of hemispermatophore and terminology follows Soleglad and Sissom (2001) and Fet and Soleglad (2002). Etymology. The specific epithet refers to Dr. Aziz Avcı who is a Turkish herpetologist and the new species is named after him for his kind contributions to collecting scorpion species and his friendship.

Taxonomy
Diagnosis. A small Euscorpius species, total length 24-28 mm. Color of adults is light brown to brown-reddish with the carapace and pedipalps darker brown-reddish, legs and telson lighter, yellowish colored. E. avcii sp. n. is oligotrichous; the number of trichobothria on the pedipalp manus ventral surface is 4 (3 V + Et 1); the number of trichobothria on the pedipalp patella ventral surface is 7 (of 78.5% of examined specimens and of 88% of pedipalps). The number of trichobothria on pedipalp patella external surface is: eb = 4, eba = 4, esb = 2, em = 4, est = 4, et = 5/6 (generally 5). The pectinal teeth count is: 7-9 (generally 8) in males, 6-7 (generally 7) in females. The telson vesicle in males is more swollen than in females, but only slightly more swollen if compared to other species of the subgenus Euscorpius. The pedipalps are stocky with a notch on fixed finger and scalloping of the movable finger well developed in adult males, obsolete in females. The dorsal patellar spur is weakly developed. Carinae on the metasomal segments are strongly reduced, almost smooth. Average value of the length from center median eyes to anterior margin of the carapace is equivalent to 39.20±2.0% of the carapace length. Average value of the length from center median eyes to posterior margin of the carapace is equivalent to 60.80±2.0% of the carapace length.

and 5).
Carapace: Length 3.70 mm; posterior width 3.75. Very slightly and finely granulated in laterally. All the furrows are shallow, only the posterior lateral furrows are slightly more marked. Distance from the center of the median eyes to the anterior margin of the carapace is equivalent to 39.62% of the prosoma; the length from the center of the median eyes to the posterior margin of the carapace is equivalent to 60.38% of the prosoma (Fig. 1A).
Mesosoma: Tergites very slightly and finely granulated, almost smooth; sternites smooth. The area of overlap between the sternites is lighter in color. Pectinal teeth count is 8-9. The spiracles are very small, oval shaped and it is inclined to about 45° downwards towards outside.
Metasoma: Medium to small size with respect to body length. Dorsal carinae from segment I-IV are almost smooth, exhibit a few distanced fine granules, obsolete or almost obsolete on the segment V; ventromedian carinae from segment I-IV absent; ventromedian carinae on segment V are formed by very fine granules. Ventrolateral carinae from segment I-IV are obsolete; on segment V they are formed by a few spaced granules (Fig. 2E,F).
Pedipalp: Coxa and trochanter with strong granulation. Femur: dorsal internal carinae tuberculate; dorsal external carinae formed by low spaced tubercles, their size increases from distal to proximal. Intercarinal spaces bears scattered small granules, larger in the posterior proximal area. Ventral external carina is granulated in the proximal half. External median carinae serrulate, anterior median crenulate and tuberculate distally. Patella length 3.25; patella width 1.20; dorsal internal carinae crenulate. Dorsal external carinae from rough to smooth and are crenulate proximally. Ventral external carinae from smooth to rough. Ventral internal carinae serrulate. Intercarinal tegument smooth or rough. Dorsal patellar spur weakly developed (Fig. 1E).
Chelal carina D 1 is distinctly strong, dark and from smooth to rough; D 4 is formed from scattered granules; V 1 is distinctly strong, crenulate and dark; V 3 is formed from granules on 2/3 of length. External carina with granules on distal half. Intercarinal tegument rough or smooth except between carinae D4 and V3. Movable finger dentition: MD like a straight line formed from very small denticles closely spaced and an DD on the distal tip; OD formed from 7 denticles on movable finger and 6 denticles on fixed finger, immediately outside of MD, their size increases progressively but the terminal denticle is not very pronounced; ID formed from 7 denticles on movable finger and 6 denticles on fixed finger, spaced from MD, their size increases progressively but the terminal denticle is not very pronounced; IAD on both movable and fixed finger formed from 4 small denticles.  Legs: legs with two pedal spurs. Tarsal ventral row with 10-12 stout spinules; 3 tarsal setae flanked pairs adjacent to the ventral spinules row. Basitarsus with 6 prolateral stout spinules on leg pair I; 7 prolateral stout spinules on leg pair II; 1 prolateral stout spinules on leg pair III; absent on leg pair IV. Granulation on the leg femora II and III is more marked both dorsally and ventrally, and only ventrally on leg I. Granulation is formed from dark granules; while the granulation on the dorsal surface of the femur of leg I and on the femur of leg IV both dorsally and ventrally is weakly marked and of lighter colored granules.
Chelicerae: movable finger: The dorsal distal tooth is smaller than the ventral distal tooth; Ventral edge is smooth with brush-like setae on the inner part; dorsal edge has five teeth: one distal, two small subdistal, one big median and a small basal; fixed finger has four teeth: one distal, one subdistal, one median and one basal. The median and the basal are in a fork arrangement. The internal edge has brush-like setae.

Discussion
Euscorpius avcii sp. n. is an oligotrichous form with Pv = 7 and Pe-et = 5/6. Most of the species belonging to the subgenus Euscorpius have generally higher trichobothrial numbers, with some exceptions e.g. Euscorpius oglasae Di Caporiacco, 1950 (Pv = 7, Pe-et = 5) (Vignoli et al. 2007) and an unnamed form from the island of Samos in Greece (Pv = 5, Pe-et = 5) (Vignoli and Salomone 2008). Kinzelbach (1975)  with Pv 10/14 are E. mesotrichus. According Kinzelbach (1975) E. tergestinus is a synonym of E. mesotrichus, but the latter name is not available because it is a junior homonym of E. italicus mesotrichus Hadži, 1929(Di Caporiacco 1950Fet 1997b;Fet and Braunwalder 2000). E. mesotrichus was synonymized with E. tergestinus by Caporiacco, (1950) and according to Fet and Braunwalder (2000) the correct name for this species should be E. tergestinus. Further studies (Gantenbein et al. 2001;Fet et al. 2003) reported that "E. mesotricus" of Kinzelbach also refers to other species such as E. balearicus and E. sicanus besides E. tergestinus and other forms that need clarification. E. carpathicus s. str. is now restricted to the populations of the type locality in Romania (Fet and Soleglad 2002). Among the specimens studied by Vignoli and Salomone (2008), there is one from Turkey of the AMNH collection labeled as Euscorpius cf. tergestinus (1 juvenile, Aydın Davutlar, Söke 44 m a.s.l., 28.IV.2005, H. Koç coll.) from the same population as presented in this study as a new species. The specimens of our study certainly do not fall within the range of E. mesotrichus "of Kinzelbach" nor in E. carpathicus s. str. and E. tergestinus s. str., as we shall see from morphological and trichobothrial data below. Euscorpius oglasae has a trichobothrial pattern that is almost identical to Euscorpius avcii sp. n., but the morphology and geographic distribution (E. oglasae is endemic to the island of Montecristo in the Tyrrhenian Sea in Tuscany, Italy) make easy to separate these two species. E. oglasae is larger than Euscorpius avcii sp. n. (up to 43 mm) (Vignoli et al. 2007), the lobe of the movable finger is weak in males and obsolete in females, the chela is slender, whereas Euscorpius avcii sp. n. has a very pronounced lobe on movable finger and the notch on fixed finger and the chela is stocky. The DPS is more developed in E. oglasae as well as the granululation and metasomal carinae. E. oglasae has a lower pectinal teeth count, 7-7 in males and 6-6 females, whereas Euscorpius avcii sp. n. has 8-8 in males and 7-7 in females.
Samos is a Greek island inhabited by an unnamed oligotrichous form, similar to Euscorpius avcii sp. n. The Samos population is characterized by small size, stocky pedipalps and trichobothrial pattern Pv = 5 and et = 5 (Vignoli and Salomone 2008). This form therefore seems to have a lower Pv count and et constant (Euscorpius avcii sp. n. has Pv = 7 and et = 5/6). Samos Island is very close to the Dilek Peninsula (in some places less than two kilometers), therefore a relationship could be possible between these two populations, but because of the lack of information about the Samos form, we cannot discuss its taxonomical relationship to Euscorpius avcii sp. n.
E. tergestinus s. str. is easily distinguished from Euscorpius avcii sp. n., even if the color and the trichobothrial pattern eb = 4, eba = 4, em = 4 may suggest that Euscorpius avcii sp. n. is a species belonging to the "tergestinus complex", but these are the only similar characters, in fact the morphology and the chaetotaxy reveal the great differences between these two species. E. tergestinus is larger in size (30-40 mm), it has a slender habitus with elongated pedipalps and DPS strongly developed, among the largest in the entire genus Euscorpius.
Its telson is very swollen, above average in both male and female. The metasomal carinae are much more pronounced, granulated and Euscorpius avcii sp. n. has a less swollen telson and the metasomal carinae almost smooth. The pedipalpal chela of E. tergestinus is slender and long, especially the fingers. In this species, trichobothrium db on the fixed finger is much more distal than in Euscorpius avcii sp. n. that has it in proximal position.
Other species and subspecies of subgenus Euscorpius s.str. that are relatively geographically close, from the Aegean area: Euscorpius sicanus (C. L. Koch, 1837), E. koshewnikowi Birula, 1900, E. carpathicus candiota Birula, 1903, E. c. ossae Di Caporiacco, 1950, E. c. aegaeus Di Caporiacco, 1950and E. c. scaber Birula, 1900. E. sicanus has never been reported in Turkey; furthermore, it is easy to separate because of its particular trichobothrial pattern; Pe: eb=5 and eba = 4/5 Salomone 2008, Tropea 2012). E. koschewnikowi has been well redescribed by Fet and Soleglad (2002) as a species quite large in size and medium to dark brown colored, exceptionally smooth, with all segments of the metasoma longer than wide, and DPS highly developed. The description of this species contrasts completely with Euscorpius avcii sp. n. because the latter is a small species, colored clear reddish brown, squat, with DPS very weakly developed, and not all metasomal segments are longer than wide. E. c. candiota, among other differing characters, has a higher trichobothrial pattern as well as E. c. aegaeus (Fet 1985;Di Caporiacco 1950), whereas E. c. ossae is overall blackish with legs and telson slightly lighter and larger size (up to 37 mm) (Di Caporiacco 1950).
E. c. scaber is a scorpion from the northern Aegean area, has a dark coloration with a high number of pectinal teeth, a higher trichobothrial pattern, and in addition, its whole body is covered with granules of various size, as also the name suggests, whereas Euscorpius avcii sp. n. has a light coloration, and its granulation is very little accentuated, almost smooth.
In our opinion, Euscorpius avcii sp. n. is well divided from all described Euscorpius forms including those that await taxonomic clarification. At present there are no described species or subspecies that corresponds to the morphology and to the tricho-bothrial pattern of this new species. We are confident that these data are enough to describe this form as a new species of the genus Euscorpius, and the first described species of the subgenus Euscorpius in Turkey.

Ecology
Specimens of Euscorpius avcii sp. n. were collected from the northern side of Dilek Peninsula (Fig. 7). Vegetation in this area is composed of both deciduous forest (Quercus cerris, Tilia rubra subsp. caucasica, T. argentea and Castanea sativa) and evergreen forest (which are Pinus brutia and Laurus nobilis). Coastal areas include scrub vegetation. Furthermore, northern side of Dilek Peninsula has a humid climate and in both summer and winter, flowing streams and wetlands exist. Specimens of Euscorpius avcii sp. n. were collected during the day under bark of decomposed wood, under stones and in rock crevices and at night with UV light from rocky places, roadsides and under pine forests ( Fig. 8 and 9). Euscorpius avcii sp. n. specimens are sympatric with Mesobuthus gibbosus Brullé, 1832 and Iurus kinzelbachi Kovarik, Fet, Soleglad, Yagmur, 2010. We report an example of intraguild predation, we witnessed Mesobuthus gibbosus feeding on Euscorpius avcii sp. n. during one of our night trips (Fig. 10).