Hemiscorpius is the sole genus of the scorpion family Hemiscorpiidae, with about 16 described species. Before Hemiscorpiidae, the term used for the family was Ischnuridae, which had to be changed due to a naming conflict with the damselfly family of the same name. They at one point also held the name Liochelidae.[1]

Hemiscorpius
Hemiscorpius maindroni
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Scorpiones
Family: Hemiscorpiidae
Pocock, 1893
Genus: Hemiscorpius
Peters, 1861
Synonyms

Ischnuridae
Liochelidae

In 2015, research on the evolution, biogeography and phylogeny of the families Hormuridae, Hemiscorpiidae, and Heteroscorpionidae left Hemiscorpiidae with a single genus, Hemiscorpius, the remaining 15 merged or transferred to other families.[2]

Description

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Most species of Hemiscorpius have a very flat and broad body plan, due to their main habitat in tight rock crevices.[1]

Distribution

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Hemiscorpius is distributed throughout the Middle East and Indomalaya.[1]

Human interaction

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Hemiscorpius has a strong venom; especially that of Hemiscorpius lepturus can result in deadly accidents.[3]

Species

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These 17 species belong to the genus Hemiscorpius:[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Hemiscorpiidae". The Scorpion Files.
  2. ^ Monod, Lionel; Prendini, Lorenzo (2015). "Evidence for Eurogondwana: the roles of dispersal, extinction and vicariance in the evolution and biogeography of Indo-Pacific Hormuridae (Scorpiones: Scorpionoidea)" (PDF). Cladistics. 31. doi:10.1111/cla.12067.
  3. ^ Ghafourian, Mehri; Ganjalikhanhakemi, Neda; Hemmati, Ali Asghar; Dehghani, Rouhullah; et al. (2016). "The Effect of Hemiscorpius lepturus (Scorpionida: Hemiscorpiidae) Venom on Leukocytes and the Leukocyte Subgroups in Peripheral Blood of Rat". Journal of Arthropod-borne Diseases. 10 (2). PMC 4906755. PMID 27308274.
  4. ^ "Hemiscorpius". GBIF. Retrieved 2019-12-29.