Scorpioninae Latreille, 1802

Soleglad, Michael E. & Fet, Victor, 2003, High-level systematics and phylogeny of the extant scorpions (Scorpiones: Orthosterni), Euscorpius 2003 (11), pp. 1-175 : 114-115

Subfamily Scorpioninae Latreille, 1802

Type Genus. Scorpio Linnaeus, 1758 .

Composition. This taxon corresponds to the subfamily Scorpioninae as listed by Fet (2000g) and to family Scorpionidae as listed by Prendini (2000) and

Prendini et al. (2003). It includes four Old World genera: Heterometrus , Opistophthalmus , Pandinus , and Scorpio . We also provisionally include here the fossil genus Mioscorpio Kjellesvig-Waering, 1986 (Miocene of Europe).

Distribution. Asia, Africa.

Taxonomic history. Prendini et al. (2003) provided a detailed phylogenetic analysis of the scorpionine taxa (treated as family Scorpionidae ).

Biogeographic history. Scorpioninae are likely an eastern Gondwanaland group by origin ( Sissom, 1990; Prendini et al., 2003). Four scorpionine genera exhibit vigorous radiation in the deserts of South Africa ( Opistophthalmus ), deserts of North Africa and Middle East ( Scorpio ), tropics of Africa ( Pandinus ), and tropics of Asia ( Heterometrus ; see Couzijn, 1978, 1981; Sissom, 1990). Prendini et al. (2003) discussed in detail the biogeographic history of this group. They treated distribution of Pandinus and Heterometrus as the result of vicariance induced by the Cretaceous separation of the Indian plate from Africa. Phylogenetic positions of Opistophthalmus and Scorpio was found to be basal to the ( Heterometrus + Pandinus ) group. Prendini et al. (2003) also suggested that the initial divergence of the common ancestor of ( Opistophthalmus + Scorpio ) from the common ancestor of the ( Heterometrus + Pandinus ) group must have occurred in eastern Gondwanaland, presumably under semi-arid conditions that already existed before its breakup, i.e., the “Gondwana Desert” and surrounding semi-arid areas. Scorpioninae are notably absent from Madagascar (Lourenço, 1996a).

Diagnosis. See Prendini (2000) for details on the diagnosis of this subfamily (as family Scorpionidae ).