This blind scorpion is one of eight new terrestrial and aquatic species found in a cave in the Ramle region close to Tel Aviv

Credit: AFP

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JERUSALEM, 1 June 2006 - Israeli researchers announced on Wednesday that they had discovered several new terrestrial and acquatic species in a cave in the centre of the country, including a blind scorpion.

Species of blind scorpions are known to live in South America but it is the first time they have been discovered in the Middle East region.

"We found eight kinds of invertebrates unknown to science around 120 metres underground," Amos Fromkin of Jerusalem's Hebrew University told a press conference.

"This a first-grade discovery for science," he added in front of glass jars containing the new discoveries.

The largest of the animals was around five centimetres and resembled a white scorpion. The rest could only be seen with the aid of microscopes.

All were discovered in a cave in the Rale region, close to Tel Aviv, during research into the ecosystems of acquifers.

"The fact that these species have been apparently living for millions of years in the caves without ever having been discovered is very rare," said Hanan Dimentman of the university's department of ecology.

"Their whole way of life is totally new to us, it's like a new world underground."

The discoveries have yet to be given a name but Dimentman said they could be divided into categories of scorpions and bacteria.

"The blind scorpions that we discovered are predators and are distant cousins of other scorpions which have never been found before in the Middle East," he added.