New species of scorpion discovered in Maharashtra

A 31-year-old biologist from Mumbai and his team have discovered a new species of scorpion from the biodiversity-rich Amboli in Maharashtra. As a perfect ode to Marathi, the arachnid has been named Hottentotta Vinchu in which 'vinchu' refers to the word scorpion in local parlance.

The scorpion species, which shows a close resemblance to 'Hottentotta Rugiscutis' – a common Indian scorpion – was first spotted by Zeeshan A Mirza, a biologist attached to the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, in 2008 when he first visited Amboli. Mirza took the images of the scorpion and on close observation, it seemed very different from others. Somehow he never studied it until 2010.

"In 2010 during a visit to Amboli with a friend, we again spotted it. We decided to start studying this scorpion and submitted a research paper based on its features twice. But due to lack of DNA data, the paper was rejected by the reviewers," said informed Mirza, adding he has so far discovered 38 species including six scorpions.

Later, a team comprising Mirza, Mayuresh Ambekar of the Department of Natural Sciences, Middlesex University, London, and Nirmal Kulkarni from the Mhadei Research Centre Goa also found the creature with pincer in Chorla ghats of Goa and northern Karnataka.

Early this year, Ambekar and Mirza began working on getting the DNA data and compared DNA sequences of their newly discovered scorpion with that of the related members. This not only confirmed that it was a new species but also ensured that this time they had scientific backing to prove their discovery, which was recently published in the journal- Arachnida Rivista Arachnological Italiana.

"So many researchers discovering new species prefer to name them in their own language. We too felt why should we use a Latin name and hence thought it was best to use our own Marathi language to name this scorpion," said Mirza, who hails from Mumbai.

There is not much of research being done on scorpions. Despite playing an important role in the ecosystem, these species continue to be killed as soon as they are spotted by humans, largely due to the misconceptions and myths about them.

Meet Vinchu

Vinchu is a typical 'fat-tailed' scorpion with toxic venom and a voracious predator. The male has a body colour closer to a tinge of brown. However, its tail end, which bears the sting, is darker in colour. It is the most distinctive feature of this scorpion.