Parthenogenesis in scorpions - new review article

Professor Wilson Lourenco has published an interesting review on parthenogenesis in scorpions. This is a rare phenomenon in arachnids, but so far parthenogenesis has been reported in 12 scorpion species:

Tityus columbianus (Thorell, 1876)
T. metuendus Pocock, 1897
T. serrulatus Lutz & Mello, 1922
Tityus sp. [New sp. not yet described - info in the article]
T. stigmurus (Thorell, 1876)
T. trivittatus Kraepelin, 1898
T. uruguayensis Borelli, 1901
Ananteris coineaui Lourenco, 1982
Centruroides gracilis (Latreille, 1804)
Hottentotta caboverdensis Lourenco & Ythier, 2006
H. hottentotta (Fabricius, 1787)
Liocheles australasiae (Fabricius, 1775)

Professor Lourenco discuss the general theory behind parthenogenesis in animals, compare these to the situation seen in scorpions, and finally presents some selected examples of geographic parthenogenesis in scorpions.

Reference:
Lourenco WR. Parthenogenesis in scorpions: Some history - new data. Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases. 2008;14(1):19-44. [Fulltext freely available, but issue 1, 2008 has not been published on the website yet]

Two new species listed in Centruroides (Buthidae)

The following two species were raised from subspecies to species rank in 1999, but have not previously been known to me until now:

Centruroides baergi Hoffmann, 1932 (Buthidae)
Centruroides meisei Hoffmann, 1939 (Buthidae)

Thanks to Alex Tietz for notifying me about these two species!

Reference:
de Armas LF, Martin Frias E. Complementos a la taxonomía de Centruroides nigrovariatus y C. elegans (Scorpiones: Buthidae) de México. Anales de la Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas. 1999;44:27-35.

Family Buthidae

Four species in Tityus (Buthidae) and Chactas (Chactidae) described from Venezuela

Another Gonzalez-Sponga paper from 2006 has surfaced. The following new species from Venezuela are described:

Tityus dulceae Gonzalez-Sponga, 2006 (Buthidae)
Tityus mucusunamensis Gonzalez-Sponga, 2006 (Buthidae)
Tityus obispoi Gonzalez-Sponga, 2006 (Buthidae)

Chactas campoelisasensis Gonzalez-Sponga, 2006 (Chactidae)

Reference:
Gonzales-Sponga MA. Biodiversidad. Tres especies nuevas del género Tityus Koch, 1836 (Buthidae) y una del género Chactas Gervais, 1844 (Chactidae). Escorpiones de la cordillera de Los Andes en Venezuela. Bol Acad C Fis Mat Nat. 2006;64(3-4):41-67.

Thanks to Dr. Fernando Rojas-Runjaic for informing me about this paper!

Family Buthidae
Family Chactidae

Two new species in Hottentotta and Vachoniolus from Iran and synonymization of Paraorthochirus with Orthochirus

Two new species have been described from Iran:

Hottentotta khoozestanus Navidpour, Kovarik, Soleglad & Fet, 2008
Vachoniolus iranus Navidpour, Kovarik, Soleglad & Fet, 2008

After analyzing specimens of Orthochirus iranus, Navidpour et al (2008) conclude that the presence or absence trichobothrium d2 on the femur pedipalp is not a generic and perhaps not even a specific character. Since the presence or absence of d2 on the femur of the pedipalp is the only character separating Orthochirus Karsch, 1891 from Paraorthochirus Lourenco & Vachon, 1995, the authors conclude that these two genera are synonyms. This means that the following species from Paraorthochirus now belongs to Orthochirus:

O. blandini (Lourenço & Vachon, 1997)
O. glabrifrons (Kraepelin, 1903)
O. goyffoni (Lourenço & Vachon, 1995)
O. kaspareki (Lourenço & Huber, 2000)
O. kinzelbachi (Lourenço & Huber, 2000)
O. stockwelli (Lourenço & Vachon, 1995)

Reference:
Navidpour S, Kovarik F, Soleglad ME, Fet V. Scorpion of Iran (Arachnida, Scorpiones). Part I. Khoozestan Province. Euscorpius. 2008(65):1-41. [Fulltext freely available, but large file (12 mb)]

Family Buthidae

Part I of a major review of the scorpions of Iran has been published

Part I of a major review of the scorpions of Iran has been published in issue 65 of the journal Euscorpius.

The paper list 19 species from the Khoozestan region and their distribution. An identification key for the species are given. Good color photos are given for many species and also habitats.

Two new species are described and one genus synonymization (see separate post about this above).

Reference:
Navidpour S, Kovarik F, Soleglad ME, Fet V. Scorpion of Iran (Arachnida, Scorpiones). Part I. Khoozestan Province. Euscorpius. 2008(65):1-41. [Fulltext freely available, but large file (12 mb)]

Three new species in Brotechactas (Chactidae), Chactopsis (Euscorpiidae) and Tityus (Buthidae) from Venezuela

I have learned about another old paper from 2004 previously uknown to me. The following new species are described from Venezuela:

Brotechactas cocuyensis Gonzalez-Sponga, 2004 (Chactidae)
Chactopis marahuacaensis González-Sponga, 2004 (Euscorpiidae)
Tityus guaricoensis Gonzalez-Sponga, 2004 (Buthidae)

Reference:
Gonzalez-Sponga MA. Arárchnidos de Venezuela. Descripcíon de tres nuevas especies de escorpiones de los géneros Tityus (Buthidae), Chactopsis y Broteochactas (Chactidae). Acta Biologica Venezuelica. 2004;24(1):1-12.

Family Buthidae
Family Chactidae
Family Euscorpiidae

26 (!) new species in Ananteris (Buthidae) described from Venezuela

This large number of new species in Ananteris (Buthidae) from Venezuela was described by González-Sponga in a monography published in 2006 by Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador. I didn’t know about this publication until February 2008, so these species have not been listed in The Scorpion Files until now.

New species:
Ananteris asuncionensis
Ananteris barinensis
Ananteris capayaensis
Ananteris caracensis
Ananteris catuaroi
Ananteris caucaguitensis
Ananteris chirimakei
Ananteris claviformis
Ananteris cumbensis
Ananteris curariensis
Ananteris elguapoi
Ananteris guiripaensis
Ananteris inoae [Published as A. inoi, but name changed by Rojas-Runjaic & De Sousa (2007)]
Ananteris maniapurensis
Ananteris meridana [Published as A. meridanus, but name changed by Rojas-Runjaic & De Sousa (2007)]
Ananteris norae
Ananteris paoensis
Ananteris paracotoensis
Ananteris plataensis
Ananteris principalis
Ananteris riocaurensis
Ananteris riochicoi
Ananteris sanchezi
Ananteris sepulvedai
Ananteris singularis
Ananteris zuliana [Published as A. zulianus, but name changed by Rojas-Runjaic & De Sousa (2007)]

A big thanks to Dr. Rojas-Runjaic for help and information about Ananteris in Venezuela and González-Spongas' publication!

References:
Gonzales-Sponga MA. Aracnidos de Venezuela El genero Ananteris Thorell 1891, en Venezuela (Scorpionidae. Buthidae). Caracas, Venezuela: Universidad Pedagogica Experimental Libertador Vicerrectorado de Investigacion y Postgrado; 2006.

Rojas-Runjaic FJM, De Sousa L. Catálogo de los escorpiones de Venezuela (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Boletin Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa. 2007(40):281-307.

Family Buthidae