Physoctonus debilis C.L. Koch 1840
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
Physoctonus
Physoctonus debilis

description: Physoctonus debilis (C.L. Koch, 1840)
Figures 1 E, 2D, 9B, 10D, 11G, 12F, 16A, 20A, 21G, 22G, 24S–U, 48A, B, 49–51; table 3
Vaejovis debilis C.L. Koch, 1840: 21, 22, pl. CCLIX, fig. 605; 1850: 89; Kraepelin, 1899: 96.
Waejovis debilis: Gervais, 1844 b: 458.
Rhopalurus debilis: Borelli, 1910: 5–8, fig. 1; Mello-Campos, 1924 a: 252, 275, 276, 277; 1924b: 318, 341, 342, 343; Mello-Leitão, 1932: 14, 30; Meise, 1934: 42; Prado, 1940: 26, 29–30; Mello-Leitão, 1945: 266, 272, 273; Bücherl, 1959: 268; 1971: 327; Francke, 1977 a: 127–134, figs. 1–15; Lourenço, 1982 a: 133, 136, fig. 78; 1986a: 133, figs. 12, 16; 1986b: 165, fig. 7; 1990: 161; 1992: 55; Kovařík, 1998: 118; Fet and Lowe, 2000: 219; Ubinski et al., 2016: 122.
Physoctonus physurus Mello-Leitão, 1934 b: 76, 77, figs. 1–7 (synonymized by Francke, 1977 a: 127); 1942: 129; 1945: 129–132, figs. 40, 41; Bücherl, 1967: 115; 1969: 768; Stahnke, 1974: 129.
Physoctonus debilis: Lourenço, 2007: 360, figs. 4–5, 14–25; Prendini et al., 2009: 222; Brazil and Porto, 2010: 50; Porto et al., 2010: 293, 295, fig. 1F, table 1.
TYPE MATERIAL: BRAZIL: Vaejovis debilis: Holotype?♀ (ZSM) [lost]. Physoctonus physurus: Holotype ♂ (MNRJ), Paraíba: Santa Luzia.
DIAGNOSIS: Physoctonus debilis differs from its sister species, P. striatus, sp. nov., as follows. The mesosomal tergites of P. debilis are uniformly pale, except for the infuscate dorsomedian carinae, which form a thin stripe longitudinally, whereas the tergites of P. stria - tus are darker, with transverse bands of infuscation. The intercarinal surfaces of the carapace and metasomal segments II–IV are more coarsely and densely granular in P. debilis but weakly granular to smooth in P. striatus. The carinae of the carapace, pedipalps, and metasoma are more pronounced in P. debilis than in P. striatus: for example, the lateral inframedian carinae of metasomal segments II and III are complete in P. debilis but restricted to the posterior third of the segment in P. stria - tus; and the retromedian and secondary accessory carinae of the pedipalp chela manus are complete and granular in P. debilis but vestigial or absent in P. striatus. Pedipalp chela fixed finger trichobothrium db is situated distal to trichobothrium et in P. debilis but aligned with et in P. striatus.
DISTRIBUTION: Physoctonus debilis is endemic to Brazil, where it has been recorded in the states of Ceará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, and Piauí (fig. 9B).
ECOLOGY: The known locality records are situated in the Brazilian caatinga (fig. 2D). Specimens collected by the authors were found under stones during the day or with UV light detection at night. The habitus is consistent with the lapidicolous ecomorphotype (Prendini, 2001 b).
REMARKS: Physoctonus debilis was originally placed in the nonbuthid genus Vaejovis C.L. Koch, 1836, but was transferred to Rhopalurus by Borelli (1910), where it remained until Lourenço (2002) revalidated the genus Physoctonus. As noted by Fet and Lowe (2000), the true date of publication of C.L. Koch’s name is 1840 (see Brignoli, 1985), not 1841 as commonly quoted. This species has a junior homonym, Vaejovis debilis L. Koch, 1865, from Mexico, the identity of which is unknown.
MATERIAL EXAMINED: BRAZIL: Pernambuco: Exu, 18 km N, 5.iii.1977, L.J. Vitt, under leaf of granite on boulder, caatinga habitat, 1 ♀ (AMNH); Exu, 5 km N, 4.x.1977, L.J. Vitt, 1 ♀ (AMNH), 18.i.1978, L.J. Vitt and K.E. Streilein, 1 ♀ (AMNH); Fazenda Batente, 13 km E Exu, 10.xi.1977, L.J. Vitt and K.E. Streilein, 1 ♀ (AMNH); Fazenda Caterino, 10 km NE Exu, 9.vii.1977, L.J. Vitt, 1 ♀ (AMNH), 25.ix.1977, L.J. Vitt, 1 ♀ (AMNH). Piauí: Castelo do Piauí, 05°13′43″S 41°41′57″W, 13.viii.2008, R. Pinto-da-Rocha et al., 2 ♀ (MZSP 30868/AMCC [LP 9680]), MZSP 31158/AMCC [LP 9931]); Oeiras, 06°58′28″S 42°06′31″W, 2–3. vi.2008, H.Y. Yamaguti et al., 1 ♀ (MZSP 31162/ AMCC [LP 9940]), 1 subad. ♀ (MZSP 31164/ AMCC [LP 9962]), 3.vi.2008, H.Y. Yamaguti et al., 1 ♀ (MZSP 30866/AMCC [LP 9678]); near Parque Nacional Sete Cidades, Brasileira e Piracuruca, 04°10′0 2″S 41°41′56.7″W, 16.viii.2008, R. Pinto-da- Rocha and L.S. Carvalho, 1 ♀ (MZSP 30867/ AMCC [LP 9679]).
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 page 93, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090-415.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/851382