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Description of a new species of Scorpio (Scorpiones: Scorpionidae) from Northwestern Algeria using morphological and molecular data

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Abstract

In this study, a new scorpion species, Scorpio atlasensis sp. n. from Northwestern Algeria and Northeastern Morocco is described. Morphologically, the new species can be distinguished by the general coloration, the pectinal plate shape and others features. We used partial sequences of the mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I gene to confirm the distinctiveness of the new species. Phylogenetic relationships among specimens of Scorpio from Algeria and Morocco with additional comparative sequence data from GenBank were assessed. Our results indicate a high divergence between the clade of the new species and all other available species from the northwestern African region. Moreover, the phylogenetic analysis showed a deep split between a northwestern African clade and a clade from the Middle-East, giving additional information concerning the evolutionary history of the genus.

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Acknowledgements

This work is part of PhD thesis of the first author. The molecular part was carried out during an internship of Manel Khammassi at the Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Portugal, supervised by Dr. James Harris. The authors thank Arie van der Meijden, Pedro Sousa, and other members of CIBIO for their fieldwork effort during collecting specimens in Morocco.

This work was financed by University of Tunis El Manar, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Tunisia, PhD grant DP-2020-1142.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit of Wildlife Ecology, UR17-ES44, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

    Manel Khammassi & Saïd Nouira

  2. CIBIO, Centro de Investigação Em Biodiversidade E Recursos Genéticos, and BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, Campus Agrário de Vairão, 4485–661, Vairão, Portugal

    David James Harris

  3. Faculty of Natural and Life Sciences and Earth Sciences, University of Ghardaïa, BP 455, 47000, Ghardaïa, Algeria

    Salah Eddine Sadine

  4. Laboratory of Ecodevelopment of Spaces, Faculty of Natural and Life Sciences, University of Djillali Liabes, Sidi Bel Abbes, Algeria

    Mayssara El Bouhissi

  5. Forest Conservation of Sidi Bel Abbes, Sidi Bel Abbes, Algeria

    Mayssara El Bouhissi

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  1. Manel Khammassi
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Supplementary file1 Table S1: Table of Scorpions ID: Code number of each scorpion specimens, name of species, Country, Site name, GPS coordination, accession number on GenBank, and References. (DOCX 44.9 KB)

11756_2022_1306_MOESM2_ESM.docx

Supplementary file2 Fig. S1: Phylogram showing the relationships estimated using Maximum Likelihood. Bootstrap values (1000 replicates) above 50% are indicated above the nodes. Bayesian inference gave a similar overall topology, and BPP values are indicated below key nodes. Green branches indicate specimens of Scorpio from North-western Africa. The red highlight indicates the clade of Scorpio atlasensis sp. n. with a red branch for the specimen sequenced from Algeria. The yellow highlight indicates Scorpio spp. from Morocco. (DOCX 699 KB)

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Khammassi, M., Harris, D.J., Sadine, S.E. et al. Description of a new species of Scorpio (Scorpiones: Scorpionidae) from Northwestern Algeria using morphological and molecular data. Biologia 78, 1047–1058 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-022-01306-1

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