From Eastern Cuba

Ecologica Montenegrina 15: 17-21 (2017) This journal is available online at: www.biotaxa.org/em

First record of the whip-spider Paraphrynus cubensis Quintero, 1983 (Amblypygi: Phrynidae) from eastern Cuba

ROLANDO TERUEL

Centro Oriental de Ecosistemas y Biodiversidad, Museo de Historia Natural "Tomás Romay". José A. Saco # 601, esquina a Barnada, Santiago de Cuba 90100, Cuba. E-mail: [email protected]

Received: 15 October 2017│ Accepted by V. Pešić: 28 November 2017 │ Published online: 30 November 2017.

The genus Paraphrynus Moreno, 1940 is represented in Cuba by three species, each with very well defined distribution (Armas, 2014; Teruel et al., 2009). Paraphrynus viridiceps (Pocock, 1893) is widespread all over the entire archipelago (main island, Isla de Pinos and many offshore cays and islets), and further occurs in the Bahamas. Conversely, Paraphrynus cubensis Quintero, 1983 and Paraphrynus robustus (Franganillo, 1930) are local endemics from the western and eastern regions of the main island, respectively. Nevertheless, based upon their external morphology and ecology, a different grouping is obtained. On one hand, P. robustus and P. viridiceps are both very similar by having a large size, slender habitus and reddish coloration (fig. 1a-b), and are typical troglophiles and almost exclusively restricted to natural or mildly anthropized habitats. On the other hand, P. cubensis is remarkably distinct by its much smaller size, robust habitus and blackish coloration (fig. 1c-d), and is largely synanthropic and only exceptionally found inside caves. Armas (2013: 16) deemed P. cubensis a troglophile based upon three sporadic cave findings. Nevertheless, when these isolated records are compared with its abundant and widespread occurrence in the surface of karstic places plenty of caves (e.g., the Bejucal-Madruga-Coliseo hills and the northern Havana coastal terraces), it becomes evident that this species is more appropriately classified as a trogloxene. The geographical distribution of P. cubensis was updated by Teruel et al. (2009). These authors regarded as native its records from the western region only, i.e., Pinar del Río, La Habana and Ciudad de La Habana Provinces (according to the current political-administrative division, all implied localities belong now to Pinar del Río, Artemisa, La Habana and Mayabeque Provinces). Its scattered occurrences in Cienfuegos and Villa Clara Provinces were regarded as accidental, successful introductions (Teruel et al., 2009). The easternmost previous record of P. cubensis was Placetas town, in the latter province (fig. 2). During a 2016–2017 arachnological survey conducted by the present author and collaborators in the Zoological Park of Santiago de Cuba City (homonymous Province), an unexpected population of P. cubensis was discovered, roughly 475 km to the east of the nearest previous record (see above and fig. 2). Several individuals of different instars were observed in each monthly sampling from July 2016 through October 2017; recruitment was observed in 1 October 2017, i.e., many protonymphs were observed in different locations. All this evidence clearly indicates that this population is successfully established and vigorously reproducing. A representative series of specimens was preserved as voucher in the present author's personal collection (RTO), with the following collecting data:

Ecologica Montenegrina, 15, 2017, 17-21

FIRST RECORD OF THE WHIP-SPIDER PARAPHRYNUS CUBENSIS FROM EASTERN CUBA

 SANTIAGO DE CUBA Province: Santiago de Cuba Municipality: Santiago de Cuba City: Zoological Park (20°01'12.67"N / 75°47'59.12"W); 50 m a.s.l.; among rubble, herbaceous secondary vegetation with scattered trees; 28/July/2016; R. Teruel, S. Yong; 1 juvenile. 13/December/2016; R. Teruel, S. Yong; 1♂, 2♀♀, 3 juveniles. 16/April/2017; R. Teruel, S. Yong, E. Fonseca; 2 juveniles. 1/October/2017; R. Teruel, S. Yong; 1♀.

Figure 1. Adult females (and their total length) of the three Cuban species of Paraphrynus, photographed alive in their natural habitat: a) P. robustus (36 mm), Atabex Cave, Siboney, Santiago de Cuba Municipality, homonymous Province; b) P. viridiceps (34 mm), grotto on top of La Silla hill, Cayo Romano, Esmeralda Municipality, Camagüey Province; c) P. cubensis (21 mm), house backyard in Versalles District, Havana City, La Lisa Municipality, La Habana Province; d) P. cubensis (20 mm), Santiago de Cuba Zoological Park.

The specific identity of this population is not in doubt. Apart from the characters mentioned above that are obvious to unaided eye (fig. 1), P. cubensis is the only member of the genus that possesses leg I with 27 tibial and 58 tarsal segments, basal segment of chelicera with a single external tooth, pedipalps with spine Td-1 longer than Td-3 and tarsus without dorsobasal spine (Armas, 2014). All these characters are present in the specimens from Santiago de Cuba. Despite having sampled other areas of the Zoological Park, this species was found only in its southeastern corner, just around the lion exhibition area (fig. 3). Two other whip-spiders also occur there syntopically with P. cubensis: the charinid Charinus acosta (Quintero, 1983) and the phrynid Phrynus damonidaensis Quintero, 1981. All were found together under the same rubble fragments, but in different abundances: C. acosta is numerically dominant (possibly facilitated by its parthenogenetic reproduction), followed by P. cubensis and Ph. damonidaensis, which is rare.

TERUEL

Figure 2. Updated distribution of Paraphrynus cubensis (a), with consecutive zoom in on Santiago de Cuba City (b) and its Zoological Park (c). Previous records in red dots, new records in yellow dots. Images a–b modified from Google Earth®.

This population of P. cubensis evidently represents yet another case of an accidental but successful introduction (Teruel et al., 2009). It is restricted to a highly disturbed area of a large city and no other findings are known from the long, intensively sampled eastern region of Cuba. The origin of this introduction is most likely Havana City, where P. cubensis is both widespread and common, especially in its two largest Zoological Parks (R. Teruel, personal observation). Both are locally known as "Zoológico Nacional" and "Zoológico de 26" (located in Boyeros and Vedado Municipalities, respectively), and routinely send to Santiago de Cuba Zoological Park animals for exhibition and related products (cages, food, construction materials and other equipment), which is assumed as the potential introduction pathway. The present contribution not only expands the confirmed distribution of P. cubensis all over the main island (including both native and secondary occurrences), but also turns Santiago de Cuba into the only Province where the three Cuban species of Paraphrynus are present.

Acknowledgements I am greatly indebted to my wife Sheyla Yong, for the enthusiastic assistance in the fieldwork that yielded the unexpected finding of P. cubensis in eastern Cuba. Many thanks also to the Tomás M. Rodríguez- Cabrera (Sociedad Cubana de Zoología, Havana, Cuba) and an anonymous peer-reviewer of the manuscript, for their valuable suggestions that improved the paper.

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FIRST RECORD OF THE WHIP-SPIDER PARAPHRYNUS CUBENSIS FROM EASTERN CUBA

Figure 3. Two views of the habitat of Paraphrynus cubensis at Santiago de Cuba Zoological Park.

TERUEL

References

Armas, L. F. de (2013) Los amblipigios cavernícolas de Cuba (Arachnida: Amblypygi). Revista Ibérica de Aracnología, 22, 15–19. Armas, L. F. de (2014) Los amblipigios de Cuba (Arachnida: Amblypygi). Revista Ibérica de Aracnología, 24, 29–51. Quintero, D. (1983) Revision of the amblypygid spiders of Cuba and their relationships with the Caribbean and continental American amblypygid fauna. Studies on the fauna of Curaçao and other Caribbean islands, 196, 1–54. Teruel, R., Armas, L. F. de & Rodríguez, T. M. (2009) Nuevos datos sobre la distribución geográfica y ecología de los amblipígidos de Cuba (Arachnida: Amblypygi). Boletín de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa, 44, 201–211.

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