Researchers discovered and described a brand new species of scorpion.
A research team found the scorpion, dubbed Euscorpius lycius, in the ancient area of Lycia which is now Muğla and Antalya Provinces in Southwestern Turkey, a Pensoft Publishers news release reported.
The scorpion is a member of a genus that contains five other species.
The genus Euscorpius (which this new species is a member of) are common in the country, and are more casually called "small wood-scorpions." The largest species of the genus is (as their nickname suggests) only about an inch and a half long (around five centimeters).
The newly-discovered species was named after the region of Ancient Lycia, which has been mentioned in both Egyptian and Greek mythology.
"Like the mystical history of the region the new species is rather secretive and can be found mainly in pine at night hidden away in pine forests, crawling on rocks or sitting on stone garden walls. All localities where the species was found were humid and cool, with calcareous stones covered with moss," the news release reported.
This species is even smaller than some of its already-miniscule relatives; it measures in at about two to two and a half centimeters (less than an inch).
The Euscorpius lycius is a brown color, and has claws that are darker than the rest of its body.
"A total of 26 specimens belonging to the new species were collected from Antalya and Muğla Province, in the south-west of Turkey." Doctor Ersen Aydın Yağmur, the lead author of the study, said. "Further studies are in progress to understand the quantity and distribution of the different species and populations of the genus Euscorpius in Turkey and their relationship with the Greek populations."
A new species of hammerhead shark was also recently discovered; it has 10 less vertebrae than the Sphyrna lewini it was mistaken for throughout history, a University of South Carolina news release reported.
