By Aspen Pflughoeft – Miami Herald and published by Yahoo!News
NEAR A campsite in Thailand, a hairy creature with brown pincers lurked under a rock. It was likely waiting for prey but what approached was something else entirely.
Scientists found the eight-eyed creature — and discovered a new species.
Researchers made the discovery while surveying local wildlife at Kaeng Krachan National Park during a November 2022 visit, according to a study published on March 6 in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.
While there, researchers found four tiny scorpions that didn’t match any known records, the study said. They took a closer look and realised they’d discovered a new species: Scorpiops (Euscorpiops) krachan, or the Kaeng Krachan scorpion.
Kaeng Krachan scorpions are considered “very small,” reaching just over 1 inch in length, the study said. They have “brownish” bodies covered in hairs, as well as eight yellow legs and eight eyes.
A photo shows a Kaeng Krachan scorpion with several golden-coloured babies on its back and under its legs.
Kaeng Krachan scorpions were found under rocks at a campsite, researchers said. The area is a mountainous rainforest.
Other scorpions of the Scorpiops genus hunt through “ambush or sit-and-wait type of foraging,” the study said. The new species is believed to use the same tactics.
Researchers said they named the new species after the Kaeng Krachan National Park where the species was discovered and the only area where it has been found so far.
Kaeng Krachan National Park is in Phetchaburi province, a region along the Thailand-Myanmar border, and about 193 kilometres (120 miles) southwest of Bangkok.
The new species was identified by its body shape, size, pincers and other subtle physical features, the study said. Researchers did not provide a DNA analysis of the new species.
The research team included Wasin Nawanetiwong, Ondřej Košulič, Natapot Warrit, Wilson Lourenço and Eric Ythier.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Kaeng Krachan National Park. Photo: Matichon
Insert: A Scorpiops (Euscorpiops) krachan, or Kaeng Krachan scorpion, with several babies. Photo from Wasin, Košulič, Warrit, Lourenço and Ythier (2024)
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