A new species of scorpion from Austria, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia: Euscorpius gamma Caporiacco, 1950, stat. nov. (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae)

Scherabon (1987) recorded for the Austrian fauna two separate forms under Euscorpius germanus (C. L. KOCH), a so-called typical (T-Form) from Tyrol and Carinthia, and a Karawanken- Form (K-Form) limited to southern Carinthia. New morphological data on animals collected in Carinthia, Italy and Slovenia, as well as genetic analyses (allozymes and mitochondrial DNA), show that the so-called K-Form is in fact a separate species belonging to the Euscorpius mingrelicus complex, a phylogenetic lineage distinct from E. germanus (C. L. KOCH). The correct name for this species is E. gamma CAPORIACCO, 1950, stat. nov. (=E. germanus histrorum CAPORIACCO, 1950). It was described from northeastern Italy and the adjacent territory of Slovenia as a subspecies of E. germanus; we fix a lectotype of this species from the Risano (now Rizana) River in northern Istria, Slovenia. E. gamma is also found in Croatia. A number of other forms of the E. mingrelicus complex are found in the Balkans and Anatolia; their status is still unclear. We also fix a neotype of Euscorpius mingrelicus (KESSLER, 1874) from Batumi, Georgia (Caucasus).