06 January, 2013

Revision of Microtityus in the Dominican Republic - Five new species

Luis de Armas and Rolando Teruel have recently published a revision of the genus Microtityus Kjellesvig-Waering, 1966 (Buthidae) in the Dominican Republic. Five new species are described, all of them previously misidentified as other species.

Microtityus barahona Armas & Teruel, 2012
Microtityus lourencoi Armas & Teruel, 2012
Microtityus prendinii Armas & Teruel, 2012
Microtityus reini Armas & Teruel, 2012
Microtityus solegladi Armas & Teruel, 2012

A sixth species was also identified, but not formally named in this paper. In addition, Microtityus starri Lourenco & Huber, 199 was restored as a valid species (previously synonymized with M. rickyi Kjellesvig-Waering, 1966).

On a personal note I will declare that I have a new favorite species in the scorpion world! ;)

Abstract:
The scorpions of the genus Microtityus Kjellesvig-Waering, 1966 of the Dominican Republic are revised, and five new species, all of them previously misidentified, are described; also, a sixth species is identified but not formally named. Diagnoses are emended for the subgenera Microtityus Kjellesvig-Waering, 1966 and Parvabsonus Armas, 1974, and for all the Dominican species. With those additions the number of Dominican species of this genus rises to 11. Microtityus starri Lourenço & Huber, 1999 is restored as a valid taxon, whereas M. ambarensis (Schawaller, 1982) is transferred to the subgenus Parvabsonus.

Reference:
de Armas LF, Teruel R. Revisión del género Microtityus Kjellesvig-Waering, 1966 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) en República Dominicana. Revista Iberica de Arachnologia. 2012 (21):69-88.

A specially thanks to Luis de Armas and Rolando Teruel for naming one of the new species after me and thereby honoring my work with The Scorpion Files project! An additional thanks to Rolando for sending me this paper!

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