A note concerning the scorpions (Arachnida : Scorpiones) of the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean)

Abstract

All scorpions collected from the islands of Malta, Gozo, Camino and St. Paul's belonged to Euscorpius (s.str.) carpathicus (linnaeus, 1773) ssp. candiota Birula, 1903 as used by Kinzelbach (1975) for populations showing a complex of morphological characters intermediate between E.carpathicus carpathicus and E.mesotrichus Hadzi. Similar intermediate populations are found in several eastern Mediterranean localities (Greece, some Greek islands and Crete)" however the Maltese populations are more heterogenous than any other so far studied. The literature contains records of other species of scorpion from the Maltese Islands whereas the collections of the British Museum (Natural History), London include specimens of Mesobuthus gibbosus (Brulle) reportedly collected from Malta. These records are discussed and it is postulated that they are either errors of identification or labelling, or else represent introduced exotics now locally extinct.