Author(s): Ćurčić B.P.M.
Journal: Archives of Biological Sciences
ISSN 0354-4664
Volume: 60;
Issue: 3;
Start page: 331;
Date: 2008;
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Keywords: troglobite pseudoscorpion | chthoniidae | ayyaloniini | new genus | new species | ayyalonia dimentmani | karst fauna | ayyalon cave | Israel | Middle East | eastern Mediterranean
ABSTRACT
A new eyeless troglobitic pseudoscorpion, Ayyalonia dimentmani n. g., n. sp., is described from inside karstic voids in Israel that form a completely isolated, old underground ecosystem with living populations of blind pseudoscorpions, crustaceans, collembolans, thysanurans and mites. The scorpions, of which only empty carcasses have been found may represent extinct derives or recently dead specimens belonging to an unknown population existing somewhere in the Ayyalon underground spaces. The pseudoscorpions analyzed prove to differ from all other pseudoscorpions and are placed in a new tribe, new genus, and a new species. The possibility is suggested that the subterranean false scorpions are relicts of an old circum-tropical pattern of distribution (either of early Miocene or late Mesozoic age and origin) that differs from the present Mediterranean location of Israel.
Journal: Archives of Biological Sciences
ISSN 0354-4664
Volume: 60;
Issue: 3;
Start page: 331;
Date: 2008;
VIEW PDF
DOWNLOAD PDF Original pageKeywords: troglobite pseudoscorpion | chthoniidae | ayyaloniini | new genus | new species | ayyalonia dimentmani | karst fauna | ayyalon cave | Israel | Middle East | eastern Mediterranean
ABSTRACT
A new eyeless troglobitic pseudoscorpion, Ayyalonia dimentmani n. g., n. sp., is described from inside karstic voids in Israel that form a completely isolated, old underground ecosystem with living populations of blind pseudoscorpions, crustaceans, collembolans, thysanurans and mites. The scorpions, of which only empty carcasses have been found may represent extinct derives or recently dead specimens belonging to an unknown population existing somewhere in the Ayyalon underground spaces. The pseudoscorpions analyzed prove to differ from all other pseudoscorpions and are placed in a new tribe, new genus, and a new species. The possibility is suggested that the subterranean false scorpions are relicts of an old circum-tropical pattern of distribution (either of early Miocene or late Mesozoic age and origin) that differs from the present Mediterranean location of Israel.
