Scoterpes tricorner, Shear, 2010

Shear, William A., 2010, 2385, Zootaxa 2385, pp. 1-62 : 47-48

Scoterpes tricorner , n. sp.

Figs. 68–71, Map 8

Types: Male holotype and female paratype ( USNM) from Herring Cave , 1 mi NW of Lacassas, Rutherford Co., Tennessee, collected 14 October 1985 by A. Wynn and J. Jacobs .

Diagnosis: Similar to both S. stewartpecki , n. sp., and S. musicarustica , n. sp., and occurring on the southeast periphery of the range of the latter, this species is a member of the southern copei group. Distinct from stewartpecki in the small, triangular mesal angiocoxal branch, absent in that species, and from musicarustica , in which the mesal angiocoxal branch is two to three times as long as wide.

Etymology: The species epithet is a noun in apposition and refers to the narrow distribution of the species near the boundaries of Cannon, Rutherford and Coffee Counties, Tennessee.

Description of male from Herring Cave: Length, 9.0 mm, width, 0.85 mm. Nonsexual characters typical of genus. Gonopods ( Figs. 68–71) with coxosternum completely fused; mesal setal group linear, three setae; distal group with 8–14 setae in elongate group nearly adjacent to mesal group. Mesal angiocoxal branch low or nearly absent; lateral branch with complex folding at posterior tip, anterior branch with several fine teeth. Colpocoxite of moderate size, fimbriate branch brushlike, not much subdivided. Ninth and tenth legs typical.

Female from Herring Cave: Length, 9.0 mm, width, 0.9 mm. Nonsexual characters as in male.

Distribution (Map 8): All specimens FSCA; all records supported by at least one male. TENNESSEE: Rutherford Co. “Heron” Cave, near Lascassas, 5 January 1966, T. C. Barr.

Coffee Co. Burk Cave, 16 July 1972, T. C. Barr.

Notes: Scoterpes tricorner from Burk Cave was labeled by Causey as “setosus” and from Herring Cave as “hostilis.” The “setosus” specimens have the median angiocoxal branch somewhat more reduced ( Fig. 68) than in the Herring Cave specimens ( Fig. 70), but the records are very close to each other and the specimens as a group quite distinctive, so I consider this to be one species. Further confusion surrounds the localities. “Heron” Cave, as the FSCA specimens are labeled, is undoubtedly a mistaken transcription for Herring Cave from a handwritten label; no “Heron” Cave is listed for Tennessee. There are two different Burk Caves in the immediate region ( Barr 1961); one in Coffee Co., and the other in Rutherford Co. Since the collection from Burk Cave was made by Barr and labeled as Coffee Co., I assume that Barr, author of Caves of Tennessee (1961), knew the difference.