A Remarkable Discovery: Exploring a Rare Eresus and Spider Wasp Interaction

  Photo Credit: © Antonino Rametta . All photographs are used with permission. No part of these images may be reproduced, distributed, or used in any form without the prior written permission of the photographer. A Remarkable Discovery: Exploring a Rare Eresus and Spider Wasp Interaction One of the most rewarding aspects of maintaining Arácnido Taxonomy is hearing from naturalists and photographers around the world who take the time to share their discoveries. Every so often, an email arrives that immediately captures your attention. Not because it claims to rewrite what we know about biodiversity, but because it documents something that very few people have the opportunity to witness. Recently, I was contacted by a naturalist in Sicily who shared a series of exceptionally high-quality photographs of a female ladybird spider ( Eresus ) during what appeared to be an interaction with a spider wasp. Along with the images came a simple question: "Could this be scientifically import...

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