Heteroctenus abudi Lauren A. Esposito & Humberto Y. Yamaguti & Cláudio A. Souza & Ricardo Pinto-Da-Rocha & Lorenzo Prendini 2017
Creators: name: Lauren A. Esposito
name: Humberto Y. Yamaguti
name: Cláudio A. Souza
name: Ricardo Pinto-Da-Rocha
name: Lorenzo Prendini
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Scorpiones
Buthidae
Heteroctenus
Heteroctenus abudi

description: Heteroctenus abudi (Armas and Marcano Fondeur, 1987), comb. nov.
Figures 1 A, 2 A, 4 A, 14 A, 18 A, 21 A, 22 A, 23 A– D, 25 A, 26 A, 28 A, 29 A, 30 A, 31
Rhopalurus abudi Armas and Marcano Fondeur, 1987: 19, 20, fig. 4, pl. II, table 10; Rudloff, 1994: 9; Lourenço and Pinto-da-Rocha, 1997: 181; Kovařík, 1998: 118; Armas, 1999: 127; Armas et al., 1999: 30 –32; Armas, 2001: 246, table 1; Fet and Lowe, 2000: 217; Fet et al., 2003a: 3, table 1; Teruel, 2005: 165; Armas, 2006: 6; Teruel, 2006: 50, 51, fig. 12E; Teruel et al., 2006: 220, 221, 223, fig. 1; Perez-Gelabert, 2008: 68; Volschenk et al., 2008: 654, 658, 659, 663, 664, 674, fig. 1D, tables 1, 2; Prendini et al., 2009: 206 –209, 211–220, 222, figs. 1, 2, 5A, B, 6A, 7A, 8, 11, table 1; Teruel and Armas, 2012b: 215 –217, fig. 7; Santos et al., 2016: 9, fig. 1Ñ.
Rhopalurus virkkii Santiago-Blay, 2009: 115, 116, 122, figs. 10, 31; Teruel and Armas, 2012b: 216 –217, fig. 7; syn. nov.
TYPE MATERIAL: Rhopalurus abudi: Holotype ♀ (IES 3.2912), DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: La Altagracia Prov.: Catuano, Isla Saona, 27.i.1980, E. de J. Marcano Fondeur. Rhopalurus virkkii: Holotype ♂ (ZMUPR-RP), PUERTO RICO: Isla Mona, Camino del Diablo, approximately 2 km from Pájaros, 21.i.1982, J.A. Santiago-Blay; 2 ♂, 2 ♀, 2 ♂ subad., 1 ♀ subad., 1 ♂ juv., 1 ♀ juv. paratypes (ZMUPR-RP), El Faro, Pájaros to Uveros, Bajura de los Cerezos.
DIAGNOSIS: Heteroctenus abudi is most closely related to H. princeps, with which it shares pronounced sexual dimorphism of the pedipalp chelae, and differs in this respect from the third Heteroctenus species occurring on Hispaniola, H. bonettii. The chela manus of the adult male H. abudi is incrassate and the fingers strongly curved proximally (fixed finger curved dorsally, movable finger curved ventrally), such that only the distal portion of the fingers connect and a distinctive gap is present between them proximally, when closed (fig. 25A). The chela manus of the female is not incrassate and the fingers are not curved proximally, such that the fingers connect along most of their length and little to no gap is present between them proximally, when closed (fig. 26A). However, the pedipalp chela manus of H. abudi is longer and more slender, with more strongly developed carinae, than that of H. princeps.
Other characters in which H. abudi differs from H. bonettii and H. princeps are as follows. The carapace of H. abudi is longer and narrower than that of H. princeps (fig. 14A, E). The carapace and tergites are more coarsely and densely granular in H. abudi than in H. bonettii but less so than in H. princeps. The pectines of H. abudi are broader basally, with a more pronounced basal plate than in H. princeps, but narrower basally, with a less-pronounced basal plate than in H. bonettii (fig. 18A, B). The pectinal teeth are similar in size in H. abudi whereas the first 6–7 pectinal teeth are noticeably larger in H. bonettii. The carapace and tergites are less coarsely and densely granular in H. abudi than H. princeps but more so than in H. bonettii. The submedian sulci of sternite III are convergent in H. abudi but subparallel in H. bonettii (fig. 18A, B). The pale, raised posteromedial surface of sternite V in the male is less prominent in H. abudi than in H. bonettii. The metasomal segments of H. abudi are longer and narrower, i.e., the width/length ratio is greater, than in H. princeps but shorter and broader, i.e., the width/length ratio is smaller, than in H. bonettii (fig. 28A, B). The granulation, ventromedian and ventrolateral carinae of metasomal segment V are less developed, compared with those of the preceding segments in H. abudi, such that the segment has a shinier, rounded appearance, as in H. princeps (fig. 29A, E).
Unlike H. bonettii and H. princeps, the coloration of H. abudi is predominantly dark, due to extensive infuscation (fig. 31); the carapace, pedipalp chelae, legs, and tergites noticeably infuscate; the metasoma and telson strongly infuscate laterally and ventrally, especially on segments II–IV, becoming more so posteriorly, with each segment darker than the preceding one and segment V darkest. Although the base coloration of specimens from Isla Mona is markedly paler than that of typical specimens from the Dominican Republic, the pattern of infuscation is nevertheless similar.
DISTRIBUTION: Heteroctenus abudi is endemic to the Dominican Republic (La Altagracia Province) and Puerto Rico. It is known from three populations (fig. 4A), one at the extreme southeastern end of Hispaniola, another on Isla Saona (both falling within the Parque Nacional del Este), and a third on Isla Mona, an islet between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, also a protected area. The known localities range in altitude from 3 to 68 m.
ECOLOGY: Heteroctenus abudi inhabits dense canopy, humid coastal forest in the southeast of Hispaniola and adjacent Isla Saona (Prendini et al., 2009) and much drier habitat, ranging from scrub forest and cactus to desert grassland dominated by organ cactus and tall grasses, on Isla Mona (fig. 2A). The difference in habitat may explain the paler coloration of the material from Isla Mona. Most specimens of H. abudi were collected at night using UV light detection on karst limestone. The holotype was collected from under a stone (Armas and Marcano Fondeur, 1987). The habitat and habitus are consistent with the lapidicolous ecomorphotype (Prendini, 2001b). Heteroctonus abudi was sympatric with the buthids Centruroides bani and Microtityus consuelo Armas and Marcano Fondeur, 1987, and the diplocentrid Cazierius cicero (Armas and Marcano Fondeur, 1987), in Parque Nacional del Este, and with C. bani and the diplocentrid Cazierius garridoi Armas, 2005, on Isla Mona.
REMARKS: Lourenço and Pinto-da-Rocha (1997) suggested this species may be a variety of R. princeps. Prendini et al. (2009) demonstrated that the two species are distinct, however. Except for paler coloration, populations from Isla Mona, described as Rhopalurus virkkii by Santiago-Blay (2009), are morphologically identical to H. abudi from the southeastern Dominican Republic, with low genetic divergence between them (Esposito et al., in review), justifying the synonymy: Rhopalurus virkkii Santiago-Blay, 2009 = Heteroctenus abudi (Armas and Marcano Fondeur, 1987), syn. nov.
MATERIAL EXAMINED: DOMINICAN REPUB- LIC: La Altagracia Prov.: Parque Nacional del Este: Cabo Flaso (entrance zone), 18°22′25″N 68°37′0 1″W, 67.7 m, 14.vii.2004, E.S. Volschenk and J. Huff, 1 ♂ (AMNH); track between Ranger Station (at Boca de Yuma) and Punta Faustino, 18°21′17.2″N 68°36′52.3″W, 3.3 m, 14.vii.2004, E.S. Volschenk and J. Huff, dense canopy humid forest, hand collected blacklighting, especially along an old rock wall along the start of the track, 19 ♂, 15 ♀, 1 subad. ♂, 1 subad. ♀, 5 juv., 102 1 st instars (AMNH), 1 juv. (AMCC [LP 3268]); San Rafael de Yuma, 18°21.332′N 68°37.095′W, 46 m, 8.vi.2012, CarBio team, rock wall, 1 ♂ (AMCC [LP 12463]). U.S.A.: Puerto Rico: Isla Mona, trail #1 from Sardiniera to Punta Capitan, 18°05.294′N 67°56.289′W, 16.x.2009, L. Esposito and H.Y. Yamaguti, blacklighting, primarily scrub forest and cactus, on rocks, 10 ♂, 9 ♀, 3 subad., 4 juv. (AMNH), 2 juv. (AMCC [LP 10235]); road to El Faro, 18°03.833′N 67°52.114′W to 18°05.126′N 67°50.871′W, 17.x.2009, L. Esposito and H.Y. Yamaguti, blacklighting, population sparse, vegetation primarily desert grassland dominated by organ cactus and tall grasses, drier than east coast, 2 ♂, 4 ♀, 1 subad., 1 juv. (AMNH), 1 juv. (AMCC [LP 10234]); main road at intersection to trail #26 to Playa India, 18°03.806′N 67°53.239′W, 18.x.2009, L. Esposito and H.Y. Yamaguti, 1 ♂ (AMNH).
description: Published as part of Lauren A. Esposito, Humberto Y. Yamaguti, Cláudio A. Souza, Ricardo Pinto-Da-Rocha & Lorenzo Prendini, 2017, Systematic Revision of the Neotropical Club-Tailed Scorpions, Physoctonus, Rhopalurus, and Troglorhopalurus, Revalidation of Heteroctenus, and Descriptions of Two New Genera and Three New Species (Buthidae: Rhopalurusinae), pp. 1-134 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 415 on pages 25-29, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090-415.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/851382