Scorpionism in Argentina

Four species in the medical important genus Tityus C. L. Koch, 1836 (Buthidae) can cause serious morbidity in humans in Argentina. Andres Ojanguren-Affilastro and co-workers have recently published an article on the distribution of medical important scorpions in Argentina. The article is in Spanish.

Abstract:
Four species of the scorpion genus Tityus can be potentially lethal for humans in Argentina. In the last decades we observed an expansion in the distribution of most of these species, and this expansion accelerated in the last twenty years. Tityus trivittatus and Tityus confluens occur now in most of the medium and large cities of central and northern Argentina. In this contribution we present an overview of this problem in Argentina, and we include several new records for these species. We provide the southernmost records for the genus in the cities of Mar del Plata and Bahia Blanca. Finally we focus in the problem of scorpionism in the area of Buenos Aires city, in which two new species are recorded for the first time, Tityus bahiensis and Tityus confluens, being the second one apparently definitively installed.

Reference:
Ojanguren Affilastro AA, Bizzotto C, Lanari LC, Remes-Lenicov M, de Roodt AR. Presencia de Tityus confluens Borelli en la ciudad de Buenos Aires y expansión de la distribución de las especies de importancia médica de Tityus (Scorpiones; Buthidae) en la Argentina. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales 2019;21(1):101-12. [Subscription required for full text]

Thanks to Andres Ojanguren-Affilastro for sending me their article!

Three new species of Oiclus from the Guadeloupe islands

Eric Ythier also published a second paper this summer. In this paper three new species of Oiclus Simon, 1880 (Scorpionidae) are described from the Guadeloupe islands.

Oiclus ardens Ythier, 2019 (Guadeloupe: BasseTerre)
Oiclus cousteaui Ythier, 2019 (Guadeloupe: Îlets Pigeon)
Oiclus tipunch Ythier, 2019 (Guadeloupe: Îles des Saintes)

It has to be mentioned that the new species name "tipunch" refers to the national drink "ti’ punch" that is popular in the Guadeloupe islands and other French overseas departments. First time a scorpion is named after a drink? ;)

The article also has an identification key for the genus.

Abstract:
Three new species of scorpion belonging to the genus Oiclus Simon, 1880 (family Diplocentridae Karsch, 1880) are described on the basis of material collected in two islands and one islet of the Guadeloupe archipelago in Lesser Antilles: Basse Terre, Terrede Haut (Îles des Saintes) and Grand Îlet (Îlets Pigeon). The new descriptions raise to six the number of Oiclus species (one of them being polytypic) and confirm again that this genus endemic to Lesser Antilles is more diverse than suspected. Material collected in Grande Terre (Guadeloupe) and Saint Barthélemy also adds new localities for the two species previously described from these islands.

Reference:
Ythier E. On the genus Oiclus Simon, 1880 (Scorpiones: Diplocentridae) in Guadeloupe islands, with description of three new species. Arachnida - Rivista Aracnologica Italiana. 2019;5(12):17-49.

Thanks to Eric for sending me his article!

Family Scorpionidae

A new species of Centruroides from western Michoacán State, México

Ana F. Quijano-Ravell and co-workers recently published a new species of Centruroides Marx, 1890 (Buthidae) from western Michoacán State, México.

Centruroides romeroi Quijano-Ravell, De Armas, Francke & Ponce-Saavedra, 2019

Abstract:
A new species of scorpion belonging to the genus Centruroides Marx, 1890 is described from the Coalcomán mountain range, western Michoacán State, Mexico. Its general aspect resembles Centruroides ruana Quijano-Ravell & Ponce Saavedra, 2016, and C. infamatus (C. L. Koch, 1844), but it is a smaller species having lower pectinal tooth counts; also, males of C. ruana have the pedipalp chelae slightly thicker, whereas C. infamatus has a subaculear tubercle nearer to the base of the aculeus. Another species with similar aspect is Centruroides ornatus Pocock, 1902; however, a preliminary molecular analysis of the mitochondrial gene mRNA 16S showed genetic divergence (measured as p-distance) near to 10% between these species, and lower differences between the new species with respect to C. infamatus (4.63%) and C. ruana (5.07%). The molecular evidence together with the morphological characters (integrative taxonomy) are sufficient for recognizing the Coalcomán population as a separate and valid species.

Reference:
Quijano-Ravell AF, De Armas LF, Francke OF, Ponce-Saavedra J. A new species of the genus Centruroides Marx (Scorpiones, Buthidae) from western Michoacán State, México using molecular and morphological evidence. ZooKeys. 2019(859):31-48. [Open Access]

Thanks to Oscar Francke for sending me their article!

Family Buthidae

A new species in the genus Megachactops from Colombia

Eric Ythier published an article earlier this summer describing a new species in the small genus Megachactops Ochoa, Rojas-Runjac, Pinto-Da-Rocha & Prendini, 2013 (Chactidae) from Colombia.

Megachactops kurripako Ythier, 2019

The article has an identification key for the three species in the genus.

Abstract:
A new species of scorpion belonging to the genus Megachactops Ochoa, Rojas-Runjaic, Pinto-da-Rocha & Prendini, 2013 (family Chactidae Pocock, 1893) is described on the basis of two specimens collected in a rainforest formation located in Puerto Colombia, Guainía, Colombia. This is the third known species of the genus Megachactops, and the first reported from Colombia.

Reference:
Ythier E. A new species of Megachactops Ochoa, Rojas-Runjaic, Pinto-da-Rocha & Prendini, 2013 (scorpiones: Chactidae) from Colombia. Revista Iberica de Arachnologia. 2019(34):69-75. [Subscription required for full text]

Thanks to Eric for sending me his new article!

Family Chactidae

A new species of Hottentotta from Western Ghats, India

Zeeshan Mirza and co-workers recently described a new species of Hottentotta Birula, 1908 (Buthidae) from the Western Ghats, India.

Hottentotta vinchu Mirza, Ambekar & Kulkarni, 2019

The article also has a identification key for the Indian species in the genus Hottentotta.

Abstract:
A new species, Hottentotta vinchu sp. n., is described from the Western Ghats of India. The new species morphologically resembles to Hottentotta rugiscutis (Pocock, 1897) from which it differs in having metasomal segment II wider than long in both sexes. The new species, however, is sister to Hottentotta pachyurus (Pocock, 1897) based on cytochrome oxidase I gene from which it differs in an uncorrected sequence divergence of 7%.

Reference:
Mirza Z, Ambekar M, Kulkarni NU. A new species of scorpion of the genus Hottentotta Birula, 1908 from the Western Ghats, India (Scorpiones: Buthidae). Arachnida - Rivista Aracnologica Italiana. 2019;5(12):2-16.

Family Buthidae