What do glaciers and scorpions have in common? They’re the focus of Javier Blasco-Aróstegui’s paper in which he and his coauthor describe a new species from the foothills of Mount Olympus. It’s an area home to many legends, and also a surprising amount of biodiversity due to its unique topography. When a large-scale change in habitat restricts gene flow, it can result in species that are very different from their relatives and Javier has found one of those species. “Okay,” he remembers saying about the first specimen, “we’ve got something new and cool here.”

Javier Blasco-Aróstegui’s paper “Glacial Relicts? A New Scorpion from Mount Olympus, Greece” is in the November 9th issue of American Museum Novitates. 

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1206/4003.1

A transcript of this episode can be found here: Javier Blasco-Aróstegui - Transcript 

New Species: Euscorpius olympus

Episode image courtesy of Javier Blasco-Aróstegui

Follow Javier on Instagram: @javierblar

Or on Twitter: @jblascoarosteg

Check out his ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Javier-Blasco-Arostegui

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