Bothriurus Peters 1861
Creators: name: Lourenço, Wilson R.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Scorpiones
Bothriuridae
Bothriurus

description: Bothriurus Peters, 1861
Comments on the status of Bothriurus rochai Mello-Leitão, 1932 (Fig. 2) The species Bothriurus rochai was described by Mello-Leitão (1932) based on a single male specimen which he received from the director of the Museu Rocha, Prof. Dias da Rocha. The specimen was among a small collection of scorpions, previously studied by A. Borelli from Italy. In subsequent years the species remained poorly characterized, and in his monograph about South American scorpions, Mello-Leitão (1945) only proposed a copy of his original description. The species was much better defined by Maury (1982) with the presentation of a precise description based on several specimens from the Northeast region of Brazil, including also precise illustrations of the hemispermatophores. Maury (1982) equally called attention to the fact that the ‘Museu Rocha’ remained unknown for him. According to Almada Carvalho (2013), the Museu Rocha was created by Dias da Rocha in 1903 in Fortaleza, state of Ceará, who in fact started to organize a natural history collection since 1884 when he was only 15 years old. Almada Carvalho (2013) confirms that most insects present in the Museu Rocha have been studied by A. Fauvel and A. Grouvelle, both of the Société Entomologique de France. Orthoptera and arachnida, however were studied by Alfredo Borelli of the Museu di Zoologia, Torino, as cited by Mello-Leitão (1932). The Museu Rocha was finally taken in charge by the state of Ceará in 1959 and the collections were distributed among several distinct official institutions.Itseems that the entomological collections were, at least partially, proposed to the ‘Escola de Agronomia’, however it is most certain that the holotype of B. rochai was lost.
Bothriurus andorinhas n. sp.
(Fig. 3-15, 19)
ZooBank:http://zoobank.org/ BC6E62BE-C361-47A1-8A04-1ECFBC4BE925
Holotype, ♂, Brazil, State of Pará, Parque Estadual da Serra dos Martírios / Andorinhas (06°03’00’’to 06°23’00’’ S – 48°22’30’’ to 48°36’30’’ W), 230-280 m alt., II/1987 (W. R. Lourenço & V. Py-Daniel) (INPA).
Paratypes:
- 2 ♂ & 1 juvenile ♀ (INPA),
- 1 ♂ & 1 juvenile ♀ (MNHN),
same data as for the holotype.
Etymology. – The specific name is placed in apposition to the generic name and refers to the Parque Estadual da Serra dos Martírios/Andorinhas, location in which the new species was collected.
Diagnosis. –Adult male with a total length of 37.20 mm, including the telson.General coloration yellow to slightly brownish-yellow. Tegument of carapace, tergites and metasomal segments rather smooth; almost all metasomal carinae absent, with only the dorsal and latero-dorsal weak to moderate, represented by a few distal granules.Pectines with 22 to 24 teeth in males and 20-21 in females. Telson flattened dorso-ventrally. Chelicerae with the most basal tooth on fixed finger reduced.Trichobothriotaxy of type Fig. 2. Bothriurusrochai. ♀ collected in Ipanguaçu, state C: neobothriotaxy (Vachon, 1974). Chela with 6 trichobothria on the ventral aspect; of Rio Grande do Norte by W.Lourenço in 1979.Used by internal trichobothrium on patella strongly displaced anteriorly. Hemispermatophore with Maury (1982) for the redescription of the species.
1 cm 5 6
a similar morphology to that of B.rochai and B.cerradoensis Lourenço et al., 2004 but with the distal lamina shorter and the basal portion less enlarged (Fig. 16 - 19).
Description (based onmale holotype and paratypes) – measurements after the description.
Coloration. –Body generallyyellow to brownish-yellow.Prosoma:carapace yellow with brownish spotsmostly laterally andposteriorly, less marked anteriorly on females; eyes marked bydark pigment. Mesosoma:tergites brownish-yellow withalongitudinalyellowstrip;venterandsternitesyellowwithoutspots;pectines and genital operculum pale yellow. Metasomal segments yellow to slightly reddish-yellow, without spotsbut with carinae more to reddish;telson reddishwith the extremity of aculeus dark.Chelicerae yellow to reddish-yellow without spots; fingers yellow with reddish teeth. Pedipalps reddish-yellow, with darker carinae. Legs pale yellow without any spots on segments.
Morphology. – Carapace punctate to smooth;some minor granules on the posterior edge; anterior margin slightly concave to straight; carinae absent; all furrows weakly pronounced. Median ocular tubercle distinctly in the centre of the carapace. Three pairs of lateral eyes, the posterior being reduced. Sternum slit-like. Mesosomal tergites I- VI punctate without granules. Tergite VII with four indistinct carinae and some thin granulations. Venter: genital operculum divided longitudinally, each half with a roughly triangular shape. Pectines: pectinaltoothcount22- 22 teeth for male holotype (see diagnosisfor variation). Sternites smooth to punctate, with small, elongated oval-shaped spiracles; VII without carinae. Metasomalsegments1toIV with almostall the carinae absent; onlythe dorsaland latero-dorsalare representedbya fewdistalgranules; ventral carinae present and shaped like an incomplete arc on segment V; intercarinal spaces smooth, with scattered granules on the ventral face of segment V.Telson granular, mostly on ventral aspect; granules better marked on male; aculeus short and moderately curved. Cheliceral dentition characteristic of the family Bothriuridae (Vachon, 1963); most ventral tooth on fixed finger reduced. Pedipalps weakly to moderately granular; femur with four carinae moderate to strongandseveral granuleson the dorsal and internal faces;patella withdorsointernal and ventro-internal carinae; chela smooth but not punctate; fixed and movable fingers with a line of granules not clearly divided into rows. A large apophysis is present on inner aspect of male chela at the base of the movable finger. Trichobothriotaxy of type C: neobothriotaxy (Vachon, 1974). Chela with 6 trichobothria on the ventral aspect. Legs:tarsi of legs III andIV with 2 rows of 2 - 3 spines and several very thin setae on the ventral surface. Hemispermatophore, as in Fig.19.
Morphometric values (mm) (male holotype).
– Total length (including telson) 37.20.
– Carapace
length, 4.40;
anterior width, 3.20;
posterior width, 5.20.
– Mesosoma: length, 10.80.
– Metasomal segments
I: length, 2.20; width, 3.00;
II: length, 2.60; width, 2.90;
III: length, 2.80; width, 2.80;
IV: length, 3.50; width, 2.80;
V: length, 5.50; width, 2.70; depth, 2.40.
– Telson: length, 5.40; width, 2.10; depth, 1.60. – Pedipalp
femur length, 3.10, width, 1.20;
patella length, 3.40, width, 1.40;
chela length, 6.30, width, 2.60, depth, 3.00;
– Movable finger: length, 3.00.
Note: morphometric values are not proposed for females because all the studied specimens are juveniles.
Relationships. – The general morphology of the new species is somewhat similar to that of both Bothriurus rochai and Bothriurus cerradoensis (Fig. 2, 20- 21).
The new species can however, be distinguished from these two species by a number of features:
(i) a distinct coloration pattern with the presence of brownish spots on carapace and tergites; tergites however, divided by a longitudinal yellow strip,
(ii) internal trichobothrium on patella strongly displaced anteriorly,
(iii) most basal tooth on fixed finger of chelicerae reduced, (iv) hemispermatophore with a shorter distal lamina and a weakly enlarged basal portion; hook inconspicuous (Fig. 19).
9
Ecological considerations on the natural environment of ‘Parque Estadual da Serra dos Martírios/Andorinhas’ in the State of Pará
According to Figueiredo and Gorayeb (2009), the Serra dos Martírios/Andorinhas corresponds to a rather small massif composed of quarzitic stones which are strongly resistant to the erosion process. The massif represents a conspicuous formation in the southeast region of the state of Pará with maximum altitudes of almost 600 m, whereas the average altitudes range from 200 to 590 m. The global surface of the massif reaches 36 km in length and 18 km in width (cover figure).
The climate is Equatorial hot and wet with annual average temperatures of 24°C with variations ranging from 20 to 30°C. The average yearly rain precipitation is 1750 mm. The hydrographic system is composed of small rivers which are effluents of the Araguaia River located in the southeast zone of the massif. The vegetation formations are marked by the transition zone between the wet Amazonian forest and the open Cerrado formations.
Consequently, different gradients can be observed such as:
(i) dense wet forest with large trees,
(ii) more open forests,
(iii) carrasco vegetation,
(iv) gallery forests along small river systems,
(v) cerrados
(Figueiredo & Gorayeb, 2009; Alencar & Vidal, 2018).
The new species was collected under bark and stones in the transition zone between cerrados and open forests (Fig. 22, cover figure).
As for Bothriurus rochai occidentalis, described from the State of Maranhão, the new species was also collected from a region considered as legal Amazonia, but where the main type of vegetation can be defined as transitional between savannas and rainforest (Eiten, 1974; Ab’Saber, 1977; Lourenço, 2003). Consequently, the new Bothriurus described here can be considered as the third element to be found in an Amazonian environment.
description: Published as part of Lourenço, Wilson R., 2023, A new species of Bothriurus Peters (Scorpiones: Bothriuridae) from ' Parque Estadual da Serra dos Martírios / Andorinhas' in the State of Pará, Brazil, pp. 1-7 in Faunitaxys 11 (4) on pages 2-5, DOI: 10.57800/faunitaxys-11(4), http://zenodo.org/record/15352555