Centruroides margaritatus ( Gervais, 1841 )

de Armas, Luis F., Teruel, Rolando & Kovařík, František, 2011, On Centruroides margaritatus (Gervais, 1841) and closely related species (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Euscorpius 2011 (132), pp. 1-16 : 2-6

Centruroides margaritatus ( Gervais, 1841)

( Figs. 1A–F , 2A–F , 3 )

Scorpio margaritatus Gervais, 1841: 281–282 , pl. II, fig. 13–17; Kraepelin, 1899: 89, 93 (in part).

Centrurus degeerii : Kraepelin, 1891: 133 (misidentification).

Centrurus margaritatus : Pocock, 1893: 386–387.

Centruroides margaritatus : Pocock, 1902: 30–32 (in part); Moreno, 1939: 71–72, lám. 6, figs. 4, 5; Moreno, 1940: 99–101, láms. 28, 29, figs. 1–5; Roewer, 1943: 218; Mello-Leitão, 1945: 251, 260– 265 (in part); Stahnke & Calos, 1977: 117 (in part); Stahnke, 1978: 279 (in part); Lourenço, 1991: 29– 32, fig. 1, tab. 1 (misidentification?); Armas, 1988: 55–56; Armas, 1982: 6; Sissom & Lourenço, 1987: 15–22, table 1 (in part); Flórez, 1990: 119 (in part; records from Valle only); Kovařík, 1998: 108; Teruel, 2002: 87 (in part); Escobar & Ochoa, 2003: 52; Escobar et al., 2003: 218–220; Teruel, 2011: 61–66 (in part).

Centruroides margaritatus morenoi Mello-Leitão, 1945: 261–262 ; Stahnke & Calos, 1977: 119; Armas, 1977: 4; Armas, 1981a: 8; Armas, 1981b: 53, 54, table 1; Armas, 1982: 6; Armas, 1988: 55–56; Fet & Lowe, 2000: 114. New synonymy.

Centruroides gracilis : Lourenço & Flórez, 1990a: 122, 133, fig. 19 (misidentification); Lourenço & Flórez, 1990b: 68, 69, fig. 2 (misidentification); Lourenço, 1997: 67 (misidentification: records from Valle Department).

Centruroides morenoi : Armas & Maes, 2000: 27; Armas, 2001: 246, table 1; Armas et al., 2009: 142.

Type data. Holotype adult ♀ ( MNHN, RS 1051 ), Isla Puná, Guayaquil Gulf, Ecuador. We have seen excellent digital photos of this specimen ( Figs. 1A–E ). The bottle contains seven labels ( Fig. 1 F ), the most modern of which has obviously erroneous locality data, i. e.: “ Cordillière des Andes , La Puna” [ Gervais (1841) stated that “ Il habite l’île de la Puna, dans la rivière de Guayaquil ”]. Sissom & Lourenço (1987) gave a complete redescription, drawings, and measurements of this specimen.

Distribution. According to the material and supplementary data available to us, C. margaritatus occurs only in north-western South America ( Colombia, Ecuador, Peru), but it has been introduced in the Greater Antilles ( Jamaica and Cuba).

Diagnosis (emended). A large species (65–100 mm). Carapace and tergites dark yellow-brown with underlying fuscous pattern; tergite VII lighter than I– VI, similar in colour to basal metasomal segments ( Fig. 2 A ). Carinae and granulation dark brown. Sternites yellow-brown with dark brown shade. Metasomal segments I– IV yellow-brown, darker on IV; V and telson dark reddish brown. All the segments are ventrally darker than dorsally or laterally. Pedipalp femur and patella are yellow-brown, lighter than body; chela reddish brown. Carapace with superciliary and posterior median carinae strong, crenate. Anterior median furrow wide and moderately deep; posterior median furrow narrow, deeper posteriorly. Tergites I– VI moderately granulose. Pectines with 25–27 teeth in ♀♀ (n = 51 combs) and 27–30 in ♂♂ (n = 24 combs); basal plate rectangular. Pedipalp orthobothriotaxic A, only sparsely hirsute; chela ovate, 1.1–1.2 times wider than patella, with dorsal marginal carinae nearly smooth, not pilose ( Fig. 2 D–E ); fixed finger with eight rows of denticles; movable finger with a well-developed basal lobe. Metasomal segments with 10-8-8-8-5 well developed crenulate carinae; ventral submedian carinae on I moderate, finely crenulated; dorsolateral carinae on V moderate; intercarinal spaces with spread fine granules. Telson ovate in the female and oblong on the male ( Fig. 2 B–C, F ), with moderate, spinoid subaculear tooth, directed towards apical one-third of aculeus.

Comparisons. With respect to its closest relatives, Centruroides margaritatus can be distinguished as follows: (1) Centruroides hirsuticauda Teruel, 2011 is remarkably smaller (♀♀ 53–57 mm, ♂♂ 69–74 mm), and has pedipalps and metasoma remarkably less slender and very densely hirsute (Teruel, 2011); (2) Centruroides exilimanus Teruel et Stockwell, 2001 is remarkably larger (♀♀ 98–116 mm, ♂♂ 89–150 mm), it has higher pectinal tooth counts (♂♂ 31–34, ♀♀ 30– 32), and females have a deep discal pit in the basal plate of the pectines (Teruel & Stockwell, 2001; Víquez & Armas, 2005); (3) C. chiapanensis Hoffmann, 1932 has more slender pedipalp chelae, very attenuate telson, and higher pectinal tooth count (♀♀ 23–32, ♂♂ 25–34) ( Hoffmann, 1932; Armas et al., 1995); (4) C. tapachulaensis Hoffmann, 1932 has blackish, more attenuate pedipalps with pale fingers, attenuate telson, and lower pectinal tooth count (♀♀ 21–26, ♂♂ 23–28) (Armas et al., 1995, 2010); (5) C. fallassisimus Armas et Trujillo, 2010 is remarkably yellowish (mainly in immatures), pedipalp chelae with dorsal secondary carina minutely granulose, male has telson with attenuate vesicle (Armas & Trujillo, 2010). For C. edwardsii comb. nov., see a detailed comparison below.

Comments. We have examined the syntypes of Centruroides margaritatus morenoi Mello-Leitão, 1945 , as well as a representative series of additional specimens from Trinidad village (type locality) and Jamaica, but we have not found any characters which consistently allow their distinction as a different subspecies or species. Thus, the following nomenclatural change is proposed: Centruroides margaritatus ( Gervais, 1841) = Centruroides margaritatus morenoi Mello-Leitão, 1945 , new synonym. This taxon had been elevated to species level by Armas & Maes (2000), because it was found to be clearly not conspecific with all samples available to them and identified as C. margaritatus (mostly from IES collection); nevertheless, none of these specimens actually belonged to C. margaritatus , but C. edwardsii (see below). Moreno (1939) mentioned to have studied more than eight specimens from Trinidad, and this entire sample was explicitly declared as types by Mello-Leitão (1945); nevertheless, only three of these specimens could be located at IES collection (one ♂ and two ♀♀). We also discovered that the photo presented by Moreno (1940: pl. XXVIII) as an adult female, is actually a composite of two of the specimens studied by us: the entire metasoma belongs to one of the females, but the trunk and appendages (plus the partial metasoma also included in that plate) all belong to the male.

Sissom & Lourenço (1987: 16) examined the typespecimen of C. argentinus Werner, 1939 and determined it as a subadult female of C. margaritatus , but at this moment is not possible to confirm such synonymy without examination of that specimen.

As result of the present revision, C. margaritatus has turned out to be the most poorly known species among the South American members of the genus Centruroides . It remains to be seen which of the many published records of “ C. margaritatus ” do actually belong to this taxon, especially those from the USA ( Comstock, 1912; Pocock, 1902), Guatemala (Pocock, 1902), Bonaire (Fet & Lowe, 2000), Trinidad & Tobago ( Kovařík, 1998), Venezuela (Sissom & Lourenço, 1987), Bolivia (Sissom & Lourenço, 1987), Brazil (Sissom & Lourenço, 1987), Paraguay (Sissom & Lourenço, 1987), Argentina (Werner, 1939), Chile (Sissom & Lourenço, 1987), Sierra Leone ( Kovařík, 1998), and Japan ( Kovařík, 1997).

On the other hand, Lourenço (1991) reported three cases of presumed hybridization between laboratoryreared specimens of “ C. margaritatus ” and “ C. gracilis ”, and later he even suggested that both taxa may be conspecific ( Lourenço, 1997). Such potential synonymy can be discarded and also the supposed hybridization must be regarded as at least questionable, because of two reasons: (1) C. margaritatus and C. gracilis are morphologically very distinct from each other, to the point that both have always been placed in separate species-groups ( Hoffmann, 1932; Mello-Leitão, 1945; Teruel & Stockwell, 2001; Armas et al., 2004, 2011; Ponce Saavedra & Moreno Barajas, 2005; Armas & Trujillo, 2010; Teruel & Roncallo, 2010; Teruel, 2011), and (2) all Colombian specimens and photos of “ C. gracilis ” that we have seen (i.e., Lourenço, 1997: fig. 4; Gómez & Otero, 2007: fig. 4a; also see below in Material Examined) do involve clearly misidentified specimens of at least three distinct species, two of which are coincidently C. margaritatus and its close-relative C. edwardsii (see below). This criticism was already addressed by Teruel & Roncallo (2010: 2).

Material examined. ECUADOR: GUAYAS: 3♀♀, 2♂♂, 1 immature ♀ (ZMHB-3031), Guayaquil, no date, leg. Reiss ; 4♀♀, 2♂♂, 1 juvenile ( MRSN), Guayaquil , no date, leg. L. Campos ; 1♀, 1 immature ( MRSN), San Pedro, leg. L. Campos ; 1♀ ( MRSN), El Morro , leg. L. Campos ; 1♀ ( MRSN), San Vincente , leg. L. Campos ; 1♂ ( MRSN), Sorgenti del Maira , 1600 m a.s.l., 2 June 2001 . LOS RÍOS: 1 immature ( MRSN), Baba , leg. L. Campos. COLOMBIA: VALLE DEL CAUCA: 2♀♀, 2♂♂ (FKCP-419–22), Yotoco, Hacienda El Guabal , 17 September 1994, 1000 m (identified as Centruroides gracilis by E. Flórez) . CUBA: SANCTI SPÍRITUS: Trinidad : 2♀♀ and 1♂, syntypes of C. margaritatus morenoi (IES) , Trinidad , 10 November 1937, leg. Morte ; 2 subadult ♀♀ ( IES), Lomas de Trinidad , 15 September

1937, leg. Morte; 2♀♀, 2♂♂, two immatures ( IES), Trinidad village , August 1978 , leg. B. Acosta, in houses; 2♀♀, 1♂ ( IES), Trinidad village , December 1976 , leg. A. Rankin & B. Acosta, in houses. JAMAICA: ST. CATHERINE: 1♀ ( IJKJ), Bushy Pk., 9 February 1947 , leg. G. B. Thompson, under rotten log. PORTLAND: 1♂ ( IES), 2 km S Long Bay , 25 December 1951 , leg. G. Underwood, coconut on the beach. KINGSTON: 1♀ ( IJKJ), Tower Street , 19 December 1952 , leg. W. P. Jacobson. ST. ANDREW: 1♀ ( IJKJ), 20 December 1945 , leg. P. B. Caws, in the street; 1♀ ( IES), Gordon Town , 29 January 1947 , leg. A. Barny; 1♀, 1 juvenile, without data (RTO: Sco-0345) .

Figures

Figure 1: Centruroides margaritatus. Female holotype. A, dorsal; B, ventral; C, detail of dorsal aspect of carapace; D, last segments of the metasoma and telson, lateral aspect; E, pectines; F, labels. Scale (A, B) = 10 mm. Photos courtesy of E.-A. Leguin.

Figure 2: Centruroides margaritatus from Guayaquil (A–B, D, F) and Loja (C, E), Ecuador. A–C, male: A, habitus, dorsal; B– C, telson, lateral aspect. D–F, female: D–E, pedipalp, dorsal aspect; F, metasomal segment V and telson, lateral aspect. Scale (in mm) is only for figure A. Photos C and E, courtesy of J. A. Ochoa Camara.

Figure 3: Geographical distribution of Centruroides edwardsii (black squares) and C. margaritatus (white squares).