Newly described scorpion species from Western Ghats highlight need for more research and conservation

Since March 2020, scientists from the Institute of Natural History Education and Research (INHER), Pune have described seven new species of scorpions from the Western Ghats – six from the Sahyadris in Maharashtra and one from the southern Western Ghats near Bengaluru. These discoveries highlight the need for dedicated surveys and integrated taxonomic research on scorpions to be able to effectively conserve them.

Zeeshan Mirza, researcher at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru and Member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Spider and Scorpion Specialist Group, also not associated with the discoveries, said that the general sense we have about scorpions is that they are a dry desert species. But the recent discoveries show that so many new species occur in the high elevation plateaus of the Western Ghats.