Scolopendra cubensis Saussure, 1860 Revalidated

Mercurio, Randy J., 2016, Resurrection of Scolopendra longipes Wood and Scolopendra cubensis Saussure from synonymy with Scolopendra alternans Leach (Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha, Scolopendridae): an enigmatic species-group needing phylogeographic analysis, with an overview on the origin, Zootaxa 4111 (1), pp. 1-20 : 10-12

Scolopendra cubensis Saussure, 1860 Revalidated

( Figs. 4 C–D, 8; Table 1 )

Scolopendra cubensis — Saussure, 1860: 129 (nec S . alternans Kraepelin 1903, nec S . alternans Attems 1930, nec S . alternans Shelley 2002, nec S . alternans Mercurio 2010).

Type locality. Cuba. The Natural History Museum of Geneva ( MHNG) has 3 syntypes.

Material examined. All specimens USNM. Cuba: Matanzas, 1937, Kriuitsky, 148187, 785-10,130 (3); Loma La Canoa, 1937, Kriuitsky, 148187, 847-11,209 (7); San Diego de los Baños, April 22, 1900, Palmer & Riley, 102 (2); Havana, 1937, Kriuitsky, 148187 (1); El Guama, March 24, 1900, Palmer & Riley (1).

Remarks. Scolopendra cubensis should now be recognized as a valid species based on the different length to width ratio of the ultimate prefemur and smaller maximum body length as shown in figure 8 and table 1. Saussure (1860) described Scolopendra cubensis from Cuba with no other specific locality data. According to Hollier & Hollier (2012), Saussure was in Cuba from January 29, 1855 to February 22, 1855 and visited Havana, Guanabacoa, Santa Maria del Rosario, Matanzas and Limonar; therefore, the type series was most likely collected during this time period and from one of these localities. Saussure’s (1872) French description of the coxosternal tooth-plate for S. cubensis was translated as follows: “…four strong teeth each side, usually seen with two blades having a wavy edge, one in which at least two internal are fused; sometimes only has three lobes on each side, indicating only three teeth; but the outer teeth are generally somewhat more clearly outlined than others.” Ventral view images of the coxosternal tooth-plates of the three syntypes for S. cubensis were found to be consistent with observations of the Cuban material in this study, such as the Matanzas specimen illustrated in figure 4C, but the exception was the single specimen from El Guama shown in figure 4D. Although the length to width ratio of the ultimate prefemur for the El Guama specimen was not at either extreme and close to the median, these coxosternal tooth-plate differences hint that intra-island variation of S. cubensis may exist.

The distomedial tubercle of the penultimate prefemur has 3–5 spines, with four being the most common, and five of 13 specimens had one dorsomedial spine on one penultimate prefemur. The El Guama specimen, which overall seemed to be slightly different from the other material examined, had one faint dorsomedial spine on both penultimate prefemora.

According to Saussure (1860, 1872), the two body lengths of S. cubensis he gave were 73 and 92 mm, respectively, and all of the material examined was 73–95 mm. The specimen from Havana was poorly preserved, in 4 pieces and measured 106 mm long but was not included in the maximum length data as it was felt to be biased high. One of the specimens from Matanzas was missing the ultimate segment; hence there were only 13 of 14 specimens used for calculating the length to width ratios of the ultimate prefemora and 12 of 14 used for maximum body length. The median length to width ratio of the ultimate prefemur was 2.89 and ranged from 2.67–3.04 ( Figure 8 ). All of the above material from Cuba has been tentatively labeled as S. cubensis , but it is anticipated that it will take more morphometric and molecular data to help determine if there is more than one species on the island of Cuba. Due to the limited availability of material and realizing the potential for insular variation of S. cubensis , a redescription at this time is not possible.

Another species currently recognized as a junior synonym of S. alternans is Gervais’s (1837) Scolopendra sagraea , which has Cuba as a type locality, but seems to be a larger species than S. cubensis , attaining a body length of 144 mm.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Coxosternal tooth-plate, ventral A. S. longipes, Florida, RJM Collection B. S. longipes, Florida, Sugar Loaf Key, USNM, Neotype C. S. cubensis, Cuba, Matanzas, USNM D. S. cubensis, Cuba, El Guama, USNM E. S. alternans, Haiti, Planisance, USNM F. S. alternans, Haiti, Trou Caiman, USNM G. S. alternans, Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, USNM H. S. alternans, Puerto Rico, RJM Collection I. S. alternans, Puerto Rico, Mayaqüez, FMNH J. S. alternans, Saba Island, FMNH (Scale Bars = 1 mm).

FIGURE 8. Boxplot illustrating the difference in the ultimate prefemur length to width ratio of S. longipes compared to S. cubensis and S. alternans from different regions.

Tables

TABLE 1. Major morphological characters that differentiate S. longipes and S. cubensis from S. alternans. Bolded numbers indicate the most common spine combinations observed.

	S. longipes Florida/Bimini	S. cubensis Cuba
Coloration	cephalic plate, forcipular segment & tergites 20, 21: burnt sienna; trunk: russet to tawny without posterior black transverse band on tergites; legs: aniline yellow (living coloration)	cephalic plate & forcipular segment: appear darker in coloration than rest of trunk with posterior black transverse band on tergites (preserved)
Maximum Length (mm)	152 (n =22)	95 (n =12)
Penultimate Prefemur Dorsomedial Spines (Left/Right)	1/1, 1/2, 2/0, 2/1, 2/2, 3/2 (n =21)	0/0, 0/1, 1/0, 1/1 (n =13)
Median ultimate prefemur length/ width	3.75 (n =21)	2.89 (n =13)

continued.