Quick links to both papers and a related poster:
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Biomechanics of venom delivery in South America’s first toxungen-spraying scorpion
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Tityus (Atreus) icarus sp. nov.
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My stay in Colombia was a great opportunity to experience neotropical fauna and flora for the first time in the wild. After long hours of working with butterflies, I would often head to the forest at night. Lit by the faint glow of a UV flashlight, I spent countless hours looking for scorpions. I eventually found some — and it turned out that my little patch of forest hosted two undescribed species. Remarkably, disturbing one of these scorpions had me realise that it was capable of venom spraying, a behaviour only known from two other genera. I characterized this behaviour, compared it to previous data, and described both species.
Tityus (Atreus) icarus sp. nov., adult male.
Tityus (Atreus) icarus sp. n. was published in Faunitaxys in October 2024, and Tityus (Tityus) achilles sp. n. was published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society in December 2024.
UV-macrophotography, morphometrics, and morphological characterization
Telson morphology of Tityus (Atreus) icarus sp. nov.