The Scorpion Fauna of Mona Island, Puerto Rico (Scorpiones: Buthidae, Scorpionidae) Rolando Teruel, Mel J. Rivera & Alejandro J. Sánchez August 2017 – No. 250 Euscorpius Occasional Publications in Scorpiology EDITOR: Victor Fet, Marshall University, ‘[email protected]’ ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Michael E. Soleglad, ‘[email protected]’ Euscorpius is the first research publication completely devoted to scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Euscorpius takes advantage of the rapidly evolving medium of quick online publication, at the same time maintaining high research standards for the burgeoning field of scorpion science (scorpiology). Euscorpius is an expedient and viable medium for the publication of serious papers in scorpiology, including (but not limited to): systematics, evolution, ecology, biogeography, and general biology of scorpions. Review papers, descriptions of new taxa, faunistic surveys, lists of museum collections, and book reviews are welcome. 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Publication date: 24 August 2017 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FA6FF328-47B3-4BD3-AD86-B3CD7D70A53B Euscorpius — Occasional Publications in Scorpiology. 2017, No. 250 The scorpion fauna of Mona Island, Puerto Rico (Scorpiones: Buthidae, Scorpionidae) Rolando Teruel 1, Mel J. Rivera 2 & Alejandro J. Sánchez 3 1 Centro Oriental de Ecosistemas y Biodiversidad, Museo de Historia Natural "Tomás Romay". José A. Saco # 601, esquina a Barnada, Santiago de Cuba 90100, Cuba; email: [email protected] 2 Urbanización Cumbres de Miradero # 404, Mayagüez 00682, Puerto Rico, USA. 3 Condominio Los Olmos, Apto. 3-G, # 36, Calle Nevárez, San Juan 00927, Puerto Rico, USA. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FA6FF328-47B3-4BD3-AD86-B3CD7D70A53B Summary The scorpion fauna of the small Mona Island (= Isla de Mona), located roughly midway between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico and administratively belonging to the latter, is herein revised. Three species are confirmed to occur: the buthids Centruroides bani Armas et Marcano Fondeur, 1987 and Heteroctenus abudi (Armas et Marcano Fondeur, 1987), plus the diplocentrine scorpionid Cazierius garridoi Armas, 2005. The previously recorded Heteronebo sp. is reexamined and deemed a mislabeled specimen of Heteronebo portoricensis Francke, 1978 from adjacent Puerto Rico. Also, Centruroides mariaorum Santiago-Blay, 2009 is demonstrated to be a junior synonym of C. bani (implying the first demonstrable records of the latter from both Mona Island and Puerto Rico) and Rhopalurus virkkii Santiago-Blay, 2009 is confirmed as a junior synonym of H. abudi. A thorough photographic complement and supplementary ecological and distributional data are provided for every species. Introduction Santiago-Blay, 2009, plus the scorpionid Cazierius tatae Santiago-Blay, 2009. Strangely, Santiago-Blay (2009) The Puerto Rican Isla de Mona (hereafter Mona cited the paper of Armas (2005), but did not mention the Island) is a Greater Antillean islet located roughly mid- undetermined species of Heteronebo recorded therein way between the much larger islands of Hispaniola and and also overlooked the record of Cazierius garridoi by Puerto Rico. The island maximum size is 11 x 7 km and Armas (2006). Immediately afterwards, Armas (2009) its general contour is kidney-shaped but angulose (Fig. synonymized Cazierius tatae under Cazierius garridoi, 9). It is a low limestone karstic plateau with step coastal and suggested that the collecting data of the holotype cliffs, largely covered by a xerophytic to semidesertic could be wrong and it possibly originated from Mona scrub, enriched with microphylous semicaducifolious Island. forest in the interior dolines and ravines (Fig. 10). Later, Teruel & Armas (2012) thoroughly discussed Though currently unpopulated, it has been declared a that Rhopalurus virkkii was most likely a junior Nature Reserve and every year receives researchers, synonym of Rhopalurus abudi Armas & Marcano Fon- students and tourists as visitors. deur, 1988 from neighboring Hispaniola, but deferred Its scorpion fauna has been the subject of recent making a decision because they could not study any interest and controversy. First, Armas (2005) recorded samples from Mona Island. Similarly, Teruel, Rivera & two undetermined species of the scorpionid genera Santos (2015) declared that Centruroides mariaorum Cazierius Francke, 1978 and Heteronebo Pocock, 1893, was a potential junior synonym of the Hispaniolan based exclusively on juvenile specimens. Immediately Centruroides bani Armas & Marcano Fondeur, 1988, Armas (2006) examined the first adult of the former (a but did not introduced the formal nomenclatural change female) and clarified its identity as Cazierius garridoi for the same reason as above. Armas, 2005, described in the same previous paper Finally, Esposito et al. (2017) formally synon- allegedly from the highest mountain of mainland Puerto ymized Rhopalurus virkkii under Rhopalurus abudi and Rico. transferred the latter to the revalidated genus Hetero- Then Santiago-Blay (2009) listed three species, ctenus Pocock, 1893. In that paper, also Cazierius which he described as new: the buthids Centruroides garridoi and Centruroides bani were briefly mentioned mariaorum Santiago-Blay, 2009 and Rhopalurus virkkii to occur in Mona Island (Esposito et al., 2017: 29), but 2 Euscorpius — 2017, No. 250 no voucher specimens were declared, Centruroides 2015a: 1, 14–16; tabs. 4–5. Teruel, Armas & mariaorum was overlooked and no formal synonymy of Kovařík, 2015b: 20, 23–24; tab. III. Teruel, Rivera the latter under Centruroides bani was introduced either. & Santos, 2015: 12. Esposito et al., 2017: 13, 29, Recently, as part of our continuing study of the 55. scorpion fauna of Puerto Rico, two field trips were made Centruroides mariaorum Santiago-Blay, 2009: 109, 113, to Mona Island by one of us (MJR) and some col- 120, 122; figs. 17–18, 29 [back cover]. Teruel, laborators. The samples collected allowed to confirm all Rivera & Santos, 2015: 12. New synonym. synonymies previously suspected or declared, and also to retrieve important data on the distribution and ecology DIAGNOSIS (updated). Adult size medium to mod- of every species occurring in the islet. All these results erately large for the genus (55–86 mm in males, 45–65 are presented herein, enriched by a thorough photo- mm in females). Coloration basically yellowish, sparsely graphic complement. spotted with medium to dark brown over the body and appendages; carapace predominantly pale, with irreg- Methods & Material ularly defined dark interocular triangle, tergites with two irregular, narrow dark stripes; pedipalp chelae with Specimens were studied under a Zeiss Stemi 2000- fingers blackish. Pedipalps large, robust, and essentially C stereomicroscope, equipped with a line scale and a bare; manus very robust, oval in male, globular in Canon PowerShot® A620 digital camera. High-reso- female (length/width ratio 1.48–1.66 and 1.42–1.47, lution images were processed with Adobe Photoshop® respectively) with carinae weak to moderate and costate CS5 to optimize resolution and brightness, and to to subcostate, intercarinal spaces coriaceous with remove artifacts or unnecessary details from the scattered irregular granules, internal surface with many background. scattered conical granules; fingers with eight principal Nomenclature and measurements follow Stahnke rows of denticles, basal lobe/notch combination (1971), except for trichobothriotaxy (Vachon, 1974), moderately strong, setation dense (male) to very dense metasomal carinae (Francke, 1977), pedipalp chela (female). Carapace and tergites with intercarinal carinae (Acosta et al., 2008, as interpreted by Armas et tegument very finely and densely granulose, with many al., 2011), and