New data on the distribution of Rhopalurus in the Caribbean

New reccords of Rhopalurus laticauda in the southern Caribbean islands is presented in a recently published study.

Rolando Teruel and Michiel Cozijn have recently published a paper on the distribution of the buthid genus Rhopalurus in the southern Caribbean islands.

Abstract:
In the present note, we report on the occurrence of the genus Rhopalurus Thorell, 1898, in the southern Caribbean islands offshore Venezuela. The only published records are from Isla Margarita and Los Roques, but our study of new specimens (including an important collection assembled by the late Pieter Wagenaar Hummelinck) proved this genus to be widely distributed along several archipelagos such as Los Testigos, Los Frailes, and Los Hermanos, as well as the larger, separate islands of Margarita, Cubagua, La Tortuga, and Coche. These specimens are tentatively referred here to Rhopalurus laticauda Thorell, 1876, but their precise identity still warrants further study.

Reference:
Teruel R, Cozijn MAC. On the distribution of the genus Rhopalurus Thorell, 1876 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in the southern Caribbean islands. Euscorpius. 2013 (179):1-7. [Free full text]