The complex geological history of the Indo-Pacific region -- involving interactions between five tectonic plates, numerous microcontinents, and volcanic island arcs -- has produced one of the world's richest, yet least well known, biotas. As with other organisms in this region, the diversity and endemism of Indo-Pacific scorpions is high. This project investigates the diversity, evolution and biogeography of the scorpion family Liochelidae in the Indo-Pacific, using anatomical and molecular data. Liochelid scorpions are ideal model organisms for evolutionary and biogeographical studies due to their restricted dispersal ability, specific habitat requirements and high rate of endemism. Congruence between the evolutionary history of these scorpions and geotectonic events during the last 35 million years will be assessed using molecular clocks.
The urgency of surveying, inventorying and describing the biota of the Indo-Pacific region cannot be underemphasized given the rapid destruction of natural habitats and accelerating extinction of species. Liochelid scorpions, which mostly inhabit threatened tropical forests, are good indicators of environmental disturbance and areas of endemism. A synthesis of their diversity and distribution will provide data for conservation and biodiversity management in the Indo-Pacific. The biogeographical analysis presented by this project will also provide data for geologists, who increasingly rely on such studies to corroborate geological hypotheses.
