Venom Mass Fingerprints for Species Delimitation, Reloaded: A Test Case with Italian Scorpions (Euscorpius)

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  Venom Mass Fingerprints for Species Delimitation, Reloaded: A Test Case with Italian Scorpions (Euscorpius) Abstract Scorpion venoms are complex mixtures of bioactive compounds including proteins, peptides and enzymes. Although venoms exhibit substantial intraspecific variation, some compounds appear to be species-specific, highlighting their potential as chemotaxonomic markers. Venom mass fingerprints (MFPs) derived from Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) Mass Spectrometry (MS) have been proposed as a means of delimiting species. However, their utility for species delimitation has rarely been evaluated against independent sources of taxonomic evidence. In the present study, the performance of MALDI-TOF MS-based venom peptide barcoding (mass ranges of m/z 800‒4500 and m/z 3000‒10,000) was assessed in 52 populations of eight Italian species of the scorpion genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876, representing different levels of evolutionary divergenc...

Androctonus auzaricus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) a new scorpion species from Deir ez-Zor Province, Syria

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Androctonus auzaricus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) a new scorpion species from Deir ez-Zor Province, Syria

ABSTRACT

A new scorpion species, Androctonus auzaricus sp. n., is described and illustrated from Deir ez-Zor Province, Syria. This species represents the first record of the genus Androctonus from Deir ez-Zor Province and the first formally described species of the genus from Syria. The new species is compared with congeners from Iraq, Jordan and Turkey, particularly A. turkiyensis, which was recently described from nearby areas in Turkey.

Yağmur, E. A., & Aidek, A. E. (2026). Androctonus auzaricus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) a new scorpion species from Deir ez-Zor Province, Syria. Journal of Natural History, 60(29–32), 1663–1680. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2026.2697970