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Thursday, December 16th, 2021
| Time | Event | ||||||||
| 4:06p | [Arachnida • 2021] Tityus spelaeus • Bringing Order to A Complex System: Phenotypic and Genotypic evidence Contribute to the Taxonomy of Tityus (Scorpiones, Buthidae) and Support the Description of A New Species
Abstract We present a molecular phylogenetic analysis including a survey for overlooked phenotypic characters. Based on both analysis and characters a new cave-dwelling species is described: Tityus (Tityus) spelaeus sp. nov. from the Russão II cave, Posse, state of Goiás, Central Brazil. Characters such as the glandular regions of the female pectinal basal piece and basal middle lamellae of pectines, and the distribution of the ventral setae of telotarsi I–IV proved to be useful to constructing the taxonomy of species and species groups of Tityus. The new species is a member of the Tityus trivittatus species-group of Tityus (Tityus) and can be readily recognized by the immaculate coloration pattern and the more developed glandular region on the female pectinal basal piece. In addition, we provide a discussion of the phylogenetic relationships observed within Tityus, on the relevance of the new phenotypic characters to the modern taxonomy of the genus Tityus, and to the records of Brazilian cave scorpions. Keywords: Cave, Neotropics, scorpion, South America, state of Goiás Family Buthidae C. L. Koch, 1837 Genus Tityus C. L. Koch, 1836 Tityus C. L. Koch 1836: 33. Subgenus Tityus (Tityus) C. L. Koch, 1836 Tityus (Tityus): Lourenço (2006): 57, 58, 60, figures 3–6, 10–13, 22. Type species: Scorpio bahiensis Perty, 1833 by monotypy.
Tityus (Tityus) spelaeus sp. nov. Diagnosis: (Based on female). This species belongs to the Tityus trivittatus species-group (Figs 2, 3). Among members of the group distributed in Brazil (T. carvalhoi Mello-Leitão, 1945; T. charreyroni Vellard, 1932; T. confluens Borelli, 1899; T. fasciolatus Pessoa, 1935; T. jeanvellardi Lourenço, 2001; T. karaja Lourenço, 2016; T. rupestre Lourenço, 2019; T. sylviae Lourenço, 2005, and T. trivittatus Kraepelin, 1898), Tityus spelaeus sp. nov. can be readily recognized. Tityus spelaeus sp. nov.; T. carvalhoi; T. charreyroni; T. confluens; T. fasciolatus; T. rupestre, and T. trivittatus share a subaculear tubercle small, and acute, pointing towards the tip of the aculeus (Fig. 12A). In contrast, T. jeanvellardi; T. karaja, and T. sylviae exhibit a small and coarse subaculear tubercle that points either towards the tip of the aculeus (T. sylviae) or towards the middle of the aculeus (T. jeanvellardi and T. karaja). ... Etymology: The species epithet is a derivative form of the Greek noun, σπήλαιον (Latin: caverna), which means cave, in reference to the subterranean habitat where Tityus spelaeus has an established population. It is a noun in apposition. 
Jairo A. Moreno-González, Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha and Jonas E. Gallão. 2021. Bringing Order to A Complex System: Phenotypic and Genotypic evidence Contribute to the Taxonomy of Tityus (Scorpiones, Buthidae) and Support the Description of A New Species. ZooKeys. 1075: 33-75. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1075.67459  | ||||||||
| 4:25p | [Paleontology • 2021] Sindhochelys ragei • First Report of A Bothremydid Turtle (Pleurodira: Bothremydidae) from the early Paleocene of Pakistan, Systematic and Palaeobiogeographic Implications
We report the discovery of remains of a large chelonian from the base of the early Paleocene Khadro Formation exposed in the Ranikot Fort area (Ranikot Group, Sindh Province, Southern Pakistan). This formation already yielded the snake Gigantophis Andrews, 1901, studied by our friend Jean-Claude Rage. The chelonian specimens consist of a large carapace and a shell fragment of Bothremydidae, a family of Gondwanan origin. A new genus and species, Sindhochelys ragei n. gen., n. sp. is identified from the first specimen and named in honor of Jean-Claude Rage. It is the first report of a Bothremydidae in Southern Pakistan. Its affinities with Cretaceous and Paleocene representatives of the family are discussed. The association of characters such as the shape of the shell, anterior plastral scute pattern and strongly marked decoration characterize the taxon and, despite some similarities, allows excluding close phylogenetic affinities with Taphrosphyini and Carteremys group; other well-documented bothremydids are also excluded. The shell fragment, also strongly decorated, is left undetermined. The discovery of two new littoral bothremydid specimens in the early Paleocene of Pakistan fills a geographic and stratigraphic gap in our knowledge of the family, which is known since the continental early Cretaceous of Africa, diversifying in the world up to the Miocene deposits of the Neotethys. A particular diversification during the Maastrichtian-Paleocene is recognized along the neotethyan coasts, and occasional dispersals across this ocean were possible. Sindhochelys ragei n. gen., n. sp. may have colonized the Indian subcontinent by this time, or may represent an older diversification before the Gondwana breakup. KEYWORDS: Bothremydidae, Southern Pakistan, geology, Pelomedusoides, Gondwana, Neotethys, new genus, new species  Sindhochelys ragei n. gen., n. sp.  France de Lapparent De Broin, Grégoire Métais, Annachiara Bartolini, Imdad Ali Brohi, Rafiq A. Lashari, Laurent Marivaux, Didier Merle, Mashooque Ali Warar and Sarfraz H. Solangi. 2021. First Report of A Bothremydid Turtle, Sindhochelys ragei n. gen., n. sp., from the early Paleocene of Pakistan, Systematic and Palaeobiogeographic Implications. GEODIVERSITAS. 43(25); 1341-1363. [This article is a part of the thematic issue Memorial Jean-Claude Rage: A life of paleo-herpetologist] |
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