Urodacus Explained

Urodacus is a genus of scorpion belonging to the family Urodacidae. It was described by German naturalist Wilhelm Peters in 1861. The type species is U. novaehollandiae. Its species are native to Australia, and dig burrows.^[1] The genus was placed in its own family in 2000. Before this, the group had been a subfamily Urodacinae within the family Scorpionidae.^[2] There are likely many undescribed, cryptic species within the genus.^[3]

Species

Urodacus contains the following species:^[4]

• Urodacus armatus Pocock, 1888
• Urodacus butleri Volschenk, Harvey & Prendini, 2012
• Urodacus carinatus Hirst, 1911
• Urodacus centralis L. E. Koch, 1977
• Urodacus elongatus L. E. Koch, 1977
• Urodacus excellens Pocock, 1888
• Urodacus giulianii L. E. Koch, 1977
• Urodacus hartmeyeri Kraepelin, 1908
• Urodacus hoplurus Pocock, 1898
• Urodacus koolanensis L. E. Koch, 1977
• Urodacus lowei L. E. Koch, 1977
• Urodacus lunatus Buzatto et al., 2023
• Urodacus macrurus Pocock, 1899
• Urodacus manicatus (Thorell, 1876)
• Urodacus mckenziei Volschenk, Smith & Harvey, 2000
• Urodacus megamastigus L. E. Koch, 1977
• Urodacus novaehollandiae Peters, 1861
• Urodacus planimanus Pocock, 1893
• Urodacus similis L. E. Koch, 1977
• Urodacus spinatus Pocock, 1902
• Urodacus uncinus Buzatto et al., 2023
• Urodacus varians Glauert, 1963
• Urodacus yaschenkoi (Birula, 1903)

Notes and References

1. Koch . L. E. . 1978 . A comparative study of the structure, function and adaptation to different habitats of burrows in the scorpion genus Urodacus (Scorpionida, Scorpionidae) . WA Museum Records and Supplements . 119 . Western Australian Museum . 18 September 2022 . 12 January 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240112162430/https://museum.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/A%20COMPARATIVE%20STUDY%20OF%20THE%20STRUCTURE,%20FUNCTION%20AND%20ADAPTATION%20TO%20DIFFERENT%20HABITATS%20OF%20BURROWS%20IN%20THE%20SCORPION%20GENUS%20URODAC.pdf . live .
2. Web site: Family Urodacidae . ((Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts)). 9 October 2013 . Australian Biological Resources Study: Australian Faunal Directory. Commonwealth of Australia. 23 April 2014.
3. Buzatto . Bruno A. . Clark . Huon L. . Harvey . Mark S. . Volschenk . Erich S. . 2023-11-03 . Cooper . Steven . Two new species of burrowing scorpions (Urodacidae: Urodacus) from the Pilbara region of Western Australia with identical external morphology† . Australian Journal of Zoology . en . 71 . 1 . 10.1071/ZO23018 . 0004-959X. free .
4. Web site: Rein, J.O. . 2022 . Scorpionidae Latreille, 1802 . 4 August 2022 . The Scorpion Files . . 12 January 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240112162557/https://www.ntnu.no/ub/scorpion-files/scorpionidae.php . live .