Akrav israchanani Levy, 2007
Eyeless cave scorpion
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
A redescription of this species was published (Fet et al., 2011), which included the suggestion that Akrav did not in fact belong to a new and unique family. Rather it should be placed within Typhlochactinae.
Conservation Status
Missing (Frumkin et al., 2022)
Last record: early 1990's?
This species, the only member of its taxonomic family, was only discovered in 2006. A bulldozer accidentally penetrated the wall of Ayyalon cave, which they had inhabited, allowing scientists to investigate it's interior. One of the new species they found was the Eyeless cave scorpion (Akrav israchanani), or at least what was left of them. They only found about 10 exoskeletons (i.e. outer shells) of the species (19 according to Fet et al., 2011), which had died because the water level inside the cave had dropped about 12m over several years as a result of pumping it for domestic use (Ilani, 2007). Five further specimens were reported by (Fet et al., 2017) from a nearby cave, Levana Cave.
Distribution
Ayalon cave, Israel
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
c. 20 preserved individuals exist in museum collections.
Holotype:
HUJ Sc. 2673
Paratypes:
HUJ Sc. 2674 to 2679 (n=6)
Other specimens:
HUJ Sc. 2680 to 2684 (n=7)
Embryo (no accession number)
A vial with c. 5 individuals (no accession number)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Levy, Gershom. (2007). The first troglobite scorpion from Israel and a new chactoid family (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Zoology in the Middle East 40: 91-96. [Abstract]
Other references:
Deharveng, Louis and Bedos, Anne. (2018). Diversity of Terrestrial Invertebrates in Subterranean Habitats, pp. 107-172. In: Moldovan, O., Kováč, Ľ., Halse, S. (eds.). Cave Ecology. Ecological Studies, vol 235. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98852-8_7
Fet, Victor, Soleglad, Michael E. and Zonstein, Sergei L. (2011). The genus Akrav Levy, 2007 (Scorpiones: Akravidae) revisited. Euscorpius. 134: 1-49.
Fet, Victor, Soleglad, Michael E., Zonstein, Sergei L., Naaman, Israel, Lubaton, Shlomi, Langford, Boaz and Frumkin, Amos. (2017). The second record of a relict Akrav israchanani Levy, 2007 (Scorpiones: Akravidae) from Levana Cave, Israel. Euscorpius 247: 1-12.
Frumkin, Amos, Dimentman, Chanan and Naaman, Israel. (2022). Biogeography of living fossils as a key for geological reconstruction of the East Mediterranean: Ayyalon-Nesher Ramla system, Israel. Quaternary International 624: 168-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.11.036
Holmes, Branden. (2021). What's Lost and What Remains: The Sixth Extinction in 100 Accounts (eBook). Self published.
Ilani, Ofri. (19th July, 2007). "One year later, "Noah's Ark" cave is no longer a safe haven". Haaretz.com. Downloaded on December 13, 2010.
http://scorpion-files.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/new-information-on-enigmatic-cave.html
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/1747/akrav-israchanani