Scoterpes musicarustica, Shear, 2010

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

Scoterpes musicarustica , n. sp.

Figs. 72, 73, Map 8

Types: Male holotype and male and female paratypes ( VMNH) from Fisher Cave , Cannon Co., Tennessee, collected 1 July 1973 by S. B. Peck .

Diagnosis: Distinct from S. tricorner , n. sp., and S. jackdanieli , n. sp., in the much longer median colpocoxites and larger size of adults; the posterior branch of the lateral angiocoxite is simple, not branched.

Etymology: This species is endemic to the Central, or Nashville, Basin, and the species epithet, a noun in apposition, refers to the uniquely American music style (“country music”) that has its headquarters in the city of Nashville.

Description of male from Fisher Cave: Length, 11.2 mm, width, 0.9 mm. Nonsexual characters typical of genus. Gonopods ( Figs. 72, 73) with coxae loosely fused to sternum; distal setal group linear and lateral, about 10 setae, proximal group mesal, 3 setae. Medial angiocoxite 3–4 times as long as basally broad, bluntly pointed; lateral angiocoxite with simple, anteriorly projecting branch, not folded. Ninth legs as usual for genus.

Female from Fisher Cave: Length, 12 mm, width 1.0 mm. Nonsexual characters as in male.

Distribution: See Map 8 for selected records. All specimens FSCA; all records supported by males. TENNESSEE: Cannon Co. Bob Williams Cave, 19 December 1956, T. C. Barr; Davenport Cave, 2.5 mi S of Woodbury, 22 August 1967, S. B. Peck; Espy Cave, 2 March 1957, T. C. Barr; Henpeck Mill Cave, 1.7 mi NE Woodbury, 22 August 1967, S. Peck, A. Fiske. Davidson Co. Mill Creek Cave, 12 June 1957, T. C. Barr. Dickson Co. Columbia Caverns, 5 February 1957, T. C. Barr; Jewel Cave, 30 October 1957, T. C. Barr. Lewis Co. DePriest Cave, 10 February 1957, T. C. Barr. Maury Co. Godwins Cave, 8 June 1957, T. C. Barr. Rutherford Co. Echo Cave, 27 November 1956, T. C. Barr.

Notes: Causey labeled specimens of what I consider to be this species with three different names. The Bob Williams Cave specimens (Cannon Co.) were labeled “barri cautus.” “Barri” was the name used by Causey for Scoterpes ventus Shear 1971 before that species was described, but she also used the name for a species from Kentucky unrelated to S. ventus , which I have formally named tombarri below. Espey Cave specimens (Cannon Co.) were labeled “cautus geminus,” and all Davidson, Dickson, Lewis, Maury and Rutherford Cos. specimens were labeled “barri incisus.” Scoterpes ventus is a species of the Cumberland Plateau, Sequatchie Valley, and Eastern Highland Rim. All records of S. musicarustica are from the Central, or Nashville, Basin; these are discrete physiographic provinces. The records of musicarustica outline a rough triangle, with its right angle in northern Lewis Co., extending east to an acute point in Cannon Co., thence northwest to northwestern Dickson Co. Any caves within this area likely support musicarustica populations. The two caves known to have populations of S. tricorner , n. sp., are just west of the several Cannon Co. records of musicarustica .