High-level systematics and phylogeny of the extant scorpions (Scorpiones: Orthosterni)
Author
Soleglad, Michael E.
Author
Fet, Victor
text
Euscorpius
2003
2003-12-26
2003
11
1
175
http://dx.doi.org/10.18590/euscorpius.2003.vol2003.iss11.1
journal article
10.18590/euscorpius.2003.vol2003.iss11.1
1536-9307
13237351
86191695-B841-4C9D-BFF2-CBC76D1861BA
Subfamily
Scorpiopinae Kraepelin, 1905
Type
Genus.
Scorpiops
Peters, 1861
.
Composition.
The subfamily includes two tribes,
Scorpiopini
and
Troglocormini
, and seven genera (Soleglad & Sissom, 2001).
Distribution.
North America (
Mexico
), Asia (south and southeast).
Taxonomic history
. This taxon was originally introduced as a subfamily of
Vaejovidae
(under
Scorpiopsinae
, incorrect original spelling) where it persisted for a long time (
Stahnke, 1974
), although this placement was considered not satisfactory (
Sissom, 1990
). The subfamily
Scorpiopsinae
was formally elevated to the family level by
Stockwell (1992)
, confirmed by Lourenço (1998c), and listed as a family in Fet (2000h) who corrected the name spelling to
Scorpiopidae
. A revision of this family was published by Kovařík (2000a). Most recently,
Scorpiopidae
was downgraded to a subfamily of
Euscorpiidae
by Soleglad & Sissom (2001), who also introduced two tribes, so that the content of family
Scorpiopidae
as given in Fet (2000h) and Kovařík (2000a) now corresponds to the tribe
Scorpiopini
.
Biogeographic history
. The scorpiopines exhibit a spectacular disjunction between their main range in tropical Asia (a diverse tribe
Scorpiopini
), and the New World (
Mexico
) range of the tribe
Troglocormini
(which survives only as a cave genus
Troglocormus
). Such a disjunction could indicate an ancient age of
Scorpiopinae
, and could be explained by the Laurasian origin of both groups and subsequent differential extinction.
Diagnosis
. See Soleglad & Sissom (2001) for details.