Four new species of Harmonicon F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1896 from Brazil with the first male description of H. rufescens (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Dipluridae)

Four new species of Harmonicon F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1896 from Brazil with the first male description of H. rufescens (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Dipluridae) Abstract Four new species of Harmonicon F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1896 are described from the Cerrado biome of Brazil. Three new species are from Tocantins state, in the North region of Brazil: H. arraias n. sp. (♂), H. palmas n. sp. (♂♀), H. tocantins n. sp. (♂), and one new species is from Mato Grosso state, in the Central-west Brazil: H. guimaraes n. sp. (♂♀). Furthermore, we here describe for the first time the male of H. rufescens F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1896 and expand the distribution range of this species and that of H. candango Wermelinger-Moreira, Castanheira & Baptista 2024. Gabriel Wermelinger-Moreira , Renner Luiz Cerqueira Baptista , Four new species of Harmonicon F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1896 from Brazil with the first male description of H. rufescens (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Dipluridae) , Acta Arachnologic...

A new species of Androctonus from the Najd Plateau of Saudi Arabia (Scorpiones, Buthidae)

 


A new species of Androctonus from the Najd Plateau of Saudi Arabia (Scorpiones, Buthidae)

Abstract

A new scorpion species, Androctonus najdensis sp. nov., is described and illustrated from Saudi Arabia. It is compared with existing species from the Middle East and Iran, notably A. crassicauda (Olivier, 1807) and the recently described A. tihamicus Alqahtani, Yağmur & Badry, 2023. Molecular analysis using the COI mitochondrial gene revealed a genetic divergence of 7.0 to 11% between A. najdensis sp. nov. and A. crassicauda sensu lato samples from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran. The combination of molecular and morphological data supports the recognition of the Najd populations as a distinct species. Additionally, an identification key for Androctonus species in Iran and the Middle East is provided.

Yağmur EA, Alqahtani AR, Badry A (2025) A new species of Androctonus from the Najd Plateau of Saudi Arabia (Scorpiones, Buthidae). ZooKeys 1262: 33-59. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1262.163047