The Scorpion Files Newsblog

Scorpions have been collected for several centuries and fortunately many collectors have deposited the specimens into museum collections. The Zoological Museum in Hamburg (ZMH) holds one of the largest and most significant scorpion collections in the world. Lionel Monod and co-workers have now published an annotated catalogue of the ZMH scorpion collections. The current paper covers the parvorder Iurida Soleglad & Fet, 2003. Especially interesting is the documentation of type specimens of 89 species, many illustrated with pictures.

Abstract:
Scorpions have always inspired fear and fascination because of the potency of their venoms. Although this ancient arachnid group is relatively small (ca. 2400 species) and has been continuously studied for the past century, the taxonomy is still in a state of flux and the correct identification of species often remains difficult. With more than 725 species and 9000 specimens, the Zoological Museum in Hamburg (ZMH) holds one of the largest and most significant scorpion collections in the world. This collection also contains many historical types described by Karl Kraepelin in the early 20th century. In order to contribute to a more stable scorpion taxonomy and to assist future scorpion researchers, we present an illustrated and annotated catalogue of the ZMH scorpion collections. The type specimens of 89 species belonging to 10 families are documented, imaged and assessed alongside their primary data. For practical reasons, only the taxa belonging to the parvorder Iurida Soleglad et Fet, 2003 are presented here whilst the Parvorder Buthida Soleglad et Fet, 2003 will be catalogued in a second publication.

Reference:
Monod L, Duperre N, Harms D. An annotated catalogue of the scorpion types (Arachnida, Scorpiones) held in the Zoological Museum Hamburg. Part I: Parvorder Iurida Soleglad & Fet, 2003. Evolutionary Systematics. 2019;3:109-200. [Subscription required for full text]

Thanks to Frantisek Kovarik for informing me about this article!

Frantisek Kovarik and Petar Beron have recently published an article summing up the results after investigating and identifiying the scorpions deposited in the collection of NMNH (Sofia, Bulgaria).

Abstract:
The scorpions deposited in the collection of NMNH (Sofia) are identified and revised. The collection contains 61 species of 34 genera and ten families (Bothriuridae, Buthidae, Chaerilidae, Diplocentridae, Euscorpiidae, Liochelidae, Iuridae, Caraboctonidae, Scorpionidae, and Vaejovidae), incl. the holotype and paratypes of Euscorpius deltshevi, the holotype and paratypes of Euscorpius drenskii, the holotype and paratypes of Euscorpius popovi Tropea et al., paratype of Chaerilus tyznai Kov., holotype and paratype of E. beroni Fet, 2000, topotypes of Butheoloides charlotteae Lourenço, 2000 and specimens of the recently described Euscorpiops problematicus (Kovařík, 2000). They were collected mostly by P. Beron and identified mostly by F. Kovařík and V. Fet and come from 34 countries: Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Romania, Greece, Montenegro, Turkey, Italy (incl. Sardinia), France (incl. Corsica), USA, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Nigeria, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Iran, China (incl. Tibet), Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea.

Reference:
Kovarik F, Beron P. A checklist of the scorpions (Arachnida, Scorpiones) in the collections of the National Museum of Natural History (Sofia). Historia Naturalis Bulgarica. 2015;22:37-44.

Thanks to Frantisek Kovarik and Petar Beron for sending me this article!