Kolotl - A new genus from Mexico

Carlos Santibanez-Lopez and co-workers have done phylogenetic analysis of the diverse genus Diplocentrus Peters, 1861 (Scorpionidae) from Mexico. Based on these results, two species of this genus was found to be special and a removal from Diplocentrus was justified. The genus Kolotl Santibanez-Lopez, Francke & Prendini, 2014 is created to accommodate the two species, Kolotl magnus (Beutelspacher and López-Forment, 1991) and Kolotl poncei (Francke and Quijano-Ravell, 2009).

Abstract:
The monophyly and phylogenetic position of Diplocentrus Peters, 1861, has remained ambiguous since the first published phylogenetic analysis of diplocentrid relationships, in which it was rendered paraphyletic by the placement of exemplar species from two other diplocentrid genera, Bioculus Stahnke, 1968, and Didymocentrus Kraepelin, 1905. The discovery of two diplocentrids with neobothriotaxic pedipalps, Diplocentrus magnus Beutelspacher and López- Forment, 1991, and Diplocentrus poncei Francke and Quijano-Ravell, 2009, from the central Mexican states of Guerrero and Michoacán, respectively, raised further questions about the limits of Diplocentrus. A recent phylogenetic analysis of 29 species of Diplocentrus and five exemplar species of the most closely related genera, based on 95 morphological characters and 4202 aligned nucleotides from DNA sequences of five markers in the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, recovered the monophyly of Diplocentrus, excepting two neobothriotaxic species from central Mexico, justifying their removal from Diplocentrus. In the present contribution, Kolotl, n. gen. is created to accommodate the two species, Kolotl magnus (Beutelspacher and López-Forment, 1991), n. comb., and Kolotl poncei (Francke and Quijano-Ravell, 2009), n. comb., and both are redescribed.

Reference:
Santibanez-Lopez CE, Francke OF, Prendini L. Kolotl, n. gen. (Scorpiones: Diplocentridae), a New Scorpion Genus from Mexico. American Museum Novitates. 2014 (3815):1-28.[Free full text]

Thanks to Dr. Santibanez-Lopez for sending me his paper.

Family Scorpionidae