Biologist Ana Sofia Reboleira has discovered a Lusoblothrus aenigmaticus, an arachnid so rare that it does not have any close relatives in most of the Northern hemisphere.
Of a new genus and species, this female insect was found living in caves near Portimão.
Eyeless (lives on a lightless environment) and less than a centimetre in length, the pseudoscorpion delivers its venom through its claws, and has just been described in the scientific magazine Zootaxa.
Ana Reboleira believes the insect is a biological relic, almost a living fossil, claiming “it belongs to an ancient fauna group living in this territory, that due to climate change found refuge underground and has survived until the present day”.
Including the Lusoblothrus aenigmaticus pseudo-scorpion, Ana Sofia Reboleira has already discovered 11 animals representing new scientific geni and species, several of them in caves in the Algarve, showing the region’s importance as a biological refuge for rare animals.
