Two cases of non-native scorpion introduction in Bermuda

 

The island of Bermuda has no native scorpions, but as for other countries lacking our favorite animal groups, they do get introduced stowaways. Danniella Sherwood and co-workers recently reported about two cases of introduced scorpions to the island, a Centruroides gracilis (Latreille, 1804) (Buthidae) and a unidentified species in the genus Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 (Caraboctonidae).

Even though we love scorpions, it is important that stowaways like this are intercepted to avoid more permanent populations to keep the endemic and native fauna safe.

Abstract:
Hadruroides sp. (Scorpiones: Caraboctonidae) is newly recorded as a successfully intercepted non-native invasive species in Bermuda, based on examination of a desiccated and damaged immature female specimen. A second record of an intercepted Centruroides gracilis (Latreille, 1804) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) is reported based on examination of an adult male.

Reference:
Sherwood D, Outerbridge M, Smith SR, Gosling J, Darrell M. Tails from the Isle of Devils: two new records of non-native invasive scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones) successfully intercepted in Bermuda, including the first record of Caraboctonidae. Euscorpius. 2026(435):1–3. [Open Access]

A new species of Hadruroides from Peru

 

Eric Ythier and Wilson Lourenco have recently described a new species of Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 (Caraboctonidae) from Southern Peru.

Hadruroides apu Ythier & Lourenco, 2023

The new species has been collected at an impressive elevation of 3,317 m.

Abstract:
A new species belonging to the genus Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 (family Caraboctonidae Kraepelin, 1905) is described on the basis of specimens collected in Apurimac region in Southern Peru. H. (Lourencoides) apu sp. n. appears to be related to H. (L.) mauryi Francke & Soleglad, 1980 and H. (L.) bustamantei Ochoa & Chaparro, 2008 but can be distinguished notably by a smaller size, different pigmentation pattern, reduced granulation, lower pectinal tooth count, metasoma with only the first segment wider than long and pedipalp chela slenderer in male and broader in female with fixed finger straight without proximal gap between fingers in both sexes. This new taxon represents the 18th known species of the genus Hadruroides reported from Peru and the 23rd species of the subgenus Lourencoides Rossi, 2014. The total number of Hadruroides species is now raised to 25.

Reference:
Ythier E, Lourenco WR. A new species of Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 from Peru (Scorpiones: Caraboctonidae). Faunitaxys. 2023;11(76):1-7. [Open Access]

Thanks to Eric for informing me about their new article!

Family Caraboctonidae

Two new species of Hadruroides from Peru and Ecuador

 

Eric Ythier recently publish an article describing two new species in the genus Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 (Caraboctonidae) from Peru and Ecuador.

Hadruroides inti Ythier, 2021

Hadruroides pachamama Ythier, 2021

Abstract:
Two new species belonging to the genus Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 (family Caraboctonidae Kraepelin, 1905) are described on the basis of specimens collected in Arequipa region in southern Peru, and Loja province in southern Ecuador. H. inti sp. n. represents the 17th known species of the genus Hadruroides reported from Peru, and the 22nd species of the subgenus Lourencoides Rossi, 2014. H. pachamama sp. n. represents the 7th known species of the genus Hadruroides reported from Ecuador, and the second species of the subgenus Hadruroides Rossi, 2014. The total number of Hadruroides species is now raised to 24.

Reference:
Ythier E. Two new species of Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 from Peru and Ecuador (Scorpiones, Caraboctonidae). Faunitaxys. 2021;9(11):1-8. [Open Access]

Thanks to Eric for sending me his article!

Family Caraboctonidae

Phylogenetic study gives Hadruridae family status ("Another one bites the dust")

There have been buzz about Carlos E. Santibáñez-López' and co-worker's new phylogenetic study of the family Caraboctonidae Kraepelin, 1905 for several months, but due to several reasons I have been slow to post this on the blog. But here it is and The Scorpion Files' family pages have also been updated.

I'm not going to go into details about the study here as I must admit that the more technical stuff is above my head, but I will list the main conclusions from the study:

1.
Hadrurinae Stahnke, 1973 is split from Caraboctonidae and elevated to family status, Hadruridae. Hadruridae consists of nine species in the two genera Hadrurus Thorell, 1876 and Hoffmannihadrurus Fet & Soleglad, 2004. Distributed in North America.

2.
Caraboctonidae now consists of 23 species in two two genera Caraboctonus Pocock, 1893 and Hadruroides Pocock, 1893. Distributed in South America.

3.
Two new superfamilies have been created: Caraboctonoidea Kraepelin, 1905 (Caraboctonidae and Superstitioniidae) and Hadruroidea Stahnke, 1974 (Hadruridae).

4.
The genera Uroctonus Thorell, 1876  (currently in Chactidae)  and Belisarius Simon, 1879 (currently in Belisaridae) are regarded as insertae sedis with respect to superfamilial placement.

More phylogenomic analyses will probably give us more insight in the complicated higher-level relationships in scorpions.

Abstract:
Historically, morphological characters have been used to support the monophyly, composition, and phylogenetic relationships of scorpion families. Although recent phylogenomic analyses have recovered most of these traditional higher level relationships as non-monophyletic, certain key taxa have yet to be sampled using a phylogenomic approach. Salient among these is the monotypic genus Caraboctonus Pocock, 1893, the type species of the family Caraboctonidae Kraepelin, 1905. Here, we examined the putative monophyly and phylogenetic placement of this family, sampling the library of C. keyserlingi Pocock, 1893 using high throughput transcriptomic sequencing. Our phylogenomic analyses recovered Caraboctonidae as polyphyletic due to the distant placement of the genera Caraboctonus and Hadrurus Thorell, 1876. Caraboctonus was stably recovered as the sister-group of the monotypic family Superstitioniidae Stahnke, 1940, whereas Hadrurus formed an unstable relationship with Uroctonus Thorell, 1876 and Belisarius Simon, 1879. Fourcluster likelihood mapping revealed that the instability inherent to the placement of Hadrurus, Uroctonus and Belisarius was attributable to significant gene tree conflict in the internodes corresponding to their divergences. To redress the polyphyly of Caraboctonidae, the following systematic actions have been taken: (1) the family Caraboctonidae has been delimited to consist of 23 species in the genera Caraboctonus and Hadruroides Pocock, 1893; (2) Caraboctonidae, previously included in the superfamily Iuroidea Thorell, 1876 or as incertae sedis, is transferred to the superfamily Caraboctonoidea (new rank); (3) the superfamily Hadruroidea (new rank) is established and the status of Hadrurinae Stahnke, 1973 is elevated to family (Hadruridae new status) including 9 species in the genera Hadrurus and Hoffmannihadrurus Fet & Soleglad, 2004 and (4) we treat Uroctonus and Belisarius as insertae sedis with respect to superfamilial placement. Our systematic actions engender the monophyly of both Iuroidea and Caraboctonidae. Future phylogenomic investigations should target similar taxon-poor and understudied

References:
Santibáñez-López CE, Ojanguren-Affilastro AA, Sharma PP. Another one bites the dust: Taxonomic sampling of a key genus in phylogenomic datasets reveals more non-monophyletic groups in traditional scorpion classification. Invertebrate Systematics. 2020;34(2):133-43. [Subscription required for full text]

Thanks to Carlos E. Santibáñez-López and Prashant P. Sharma who have kept me informed about their study. I have also been informed about this article by Kari McWest and Matt Simon. Big thanks to them!

Family Caraboctonidae
Family Hadruridae

Scorpions of the Galapagos Islands

The Galapagos Islands are famous for their animals and their impact on our knowledge on animal evolution. But there are also scorpions present on most of the islands in the Galapagos archipelago. Baert & Mahnert have recently published a paper on the scorpion (and other non-spider) fauna of the islands.

Two species are present: Centruroides exsul (Meise, 1934) (Buthidae) and Hadruroides galapagoensis Maury 1975 (Carabotonidae).

Abstract:
The geographic and ecological distribution of the arachnid species belonging to the Amblypygi (Charinus insularis Banks, 1902), the Opiliones (Galanomma microphthalma Juberthie, 1970), the Schizomida (Schizomus portoricensis (Chamberlin, 1922)), the Scorpiones (Centruroides exsul (Meise, 1934) and Hadruroides galapagoensis Maury, 1975), the Solifugae (Neocleobis solitarius (Banks, 1902)) and 25 species of Pseudoscorpiones from the Galàpagos are described. Only the schizomid Schizomus portoricensis and the pseudoscorpions Paratemnoides nidificator (Balzan, 1888), Lechytia chthoniiformis (Balzan, 1887), Aphelolpium cayanum Muchmore, 1979, and Aphelolpium longidigitatum (Ellingsen, 1910) occur also on the American mainland. The pseudoscorpion Withius piger (Simon,1878) is a cosmopolite species.

Reference:
Baert L, Mahnert V. The distribution of the non‐araneae and non‐acari arachnids of Galápagos. Belgian Journal of Entomology. 2015;28:1-76. [Open Access]

Thanks to Rolando Teruel for sending me this article!

Three new species and a revision of the Ecuadorian species of Hadruroides

Andrea Rossi has recently published a revision of the mainland species of Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 (Caraboctonidae) in Ecuador. Three new species have been described:

Hadruroides doriai Rossi, 2014
Hadruroides elenae Rossi, 2014
Hadruroides moreti Rossi, 2014

An identification key for mainland species in the genus in Ecuador is presented.

Abstract:
The species of the genus Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 in Ecuador mainland are revised. Three new species related to H. maculatus (Thorell, 1876) are described: H. dorai, H. elenae and H. moreti. The genus Hadruroides is split into two subgenera: the nominal subgenus includes now only one species, H. charcasus (Karsch, 1879), whereas Lourencoides n. subgen. includes all other known species. A new record of H. charcasus in Ecuador is reported. The total number of Hadruroides species in Ecuador mainland is now raised to six and an identification key is given.

Reference:
Rossi A. A revision of the genus Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 in Ecuador mainland with the description of three new species, the definition of a new subgenus and a new record. Estratto Dagli Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale "G Doria". 2014;106:193-210.

Thanks to Andrea Rossi for sending me this article!

Family Caraboctonidae

Three new Hadruroides species from Central Peru

Andrea Rossi has published three new species in the genus Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 (Caraboctonidae) from Central Peru.

Hadruroides adrianae Rossi, 2012
Hadruroides lourencoi Rossi, 2012
Hadruroides tongiorgii Rossi, 2012

The paper also has an identification key for Hadruroides in Peru.

Abstract:
Three new species of the neotropical genus Hadruroides POCOCK, 1893 are described from different habitats in central Peru. H. adrianae n. sp. comes from a xeric area around San Josè de Los Molinos, Ica province, in the Ica region. This is also the first record of this genus for that region. H. lourencoi n. sp. and H. tongiorgii n. sp. come from the Junín region, respectively from Tarma province, at very high altitude, and from the Andinian forest of Satipo province, at medium altitude. Only few specimens of Hadruroides are known from Junín and their identity was not clear. The total number of Peruvian species of Hadruroides is now raised to sixteen.

Reference:
Rossi A. Three new species of the genus Hadruroides pocock, 1893 from central Peru (Scorpiones: Caraboctonidae). Onychium. 2012;9 (2011-2012):10-26.

Thanks to Dr. Rossi for sending me his paper!

Family Caraboctonidae

Six new Hadruroides from Peru

Jose Ochoa and Lorenzo Prendini have recently published six new species in the genus Hadruroides (Caraboctonidae*) from Peru:

Hadruroides chinchaysuyu Ochoa & Prendini, 2010*
H. geckoi Ochoa & Prendini, 2010*
H. graceae Ochoa & Prendini, 2010*
H. juanchararroi Ochoa & Prendini, 2010*
H. tishqu Ochoa & Prendini, 2010*
H. vichayitos Ochoa & Prendini, 2010*

*The authors prefer to use the Prendni & Wheeler system for higher scorpion taxonomy and have listed Hadruroides as a member of the family Iuridae.

The authors have included an indentification key for Hadruroides in Peru.

Abstract:
We review the taxonomy of the Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 (Iuridae: Caraboctoninae), scorpions of Peru, describe six new species from the north of the country, and report new records of other poorly known species. The description of these species raises to 16 the number of described species in the genus, 13 of which occur in Peru. Four species inhabit dry forest in northern Peru: H. charcasus (Karsch, 1879); H. chinchaysuyu, n. sp.; H. geckoi, n. sp.; H. leopardus Pocock, 1900. Three species occur in inter-Andean valleys along the Cordillera: H. bustamantei Ochoa and Chaparro, 2008; H. carinatus Pocock, 1900; H. mauryi Francke and Soleglad, 1980. Six species inhabit desert along the Pacific coast: H. aguilari Francke and Soleglad, 1980; H. graceae, n. sp.; H. juanchaparroi, n. sp.; H. lunatus (L. Koch, 1867); H. tishqu, n. sp.; H. vichayitos, n. sp. Most species of Hadruroides have restricted distributions, except H. charcasus and H. lunatus, which are apparently more widely distributed. We consider it necessary to reassess all previous records of the latter two species, because we suspect several are based on misidentifications.

Reference:
Ochoa JA, Prendini L. The Genus Hadruroides Pocock, 1893 (Scorpiones: Iuridae), in Peru: New Records and Descriptions of Six New Species. American Museum Novitates. 2010 Jun(3687):1-56. [Free fulltext]

Family Caraboctonidae

A new Hadruroides from Peru

Ochoa & Chaparro described a new species of Hadruroides (Caraboctonidae) in 2008 (but I didn't learn about this paper until now):

Hadruroidews bustamantei Ochoa & Chaparro, 2008

Abstract:
Hadruroides bustamantei, a new caraboctonid species from inter Andean valleys of central Peru (2600—3289 m) is described. This species is most related to H. mauryi Francke & Soleglad, with which was confused. The new species differs from H. mauryi, by length/width ratio of the male chela and the pigmentation pattern of the tergites, legs and metasomal segments. With

Reference:
Ochoa JA, Chaparro JC. A new scorpion species of the genus Hadruroides (Scorpiones: Caraboctoninae) from inter Andean valleys of Peru. Rev Peru Biol. 2008;15(1):5-10. [Free fultext]

Thanks to Gerard Dupre for always helping me to keep The Scorpion Files updated!!

Family Caraboctonidae