Scoterpes jackdanieli, Shear, 2010

Shear, William A., 2010, 2385, Zootaxa 2385, pp. 1-62 : 58

Scoterpes jackdanieli , n. sp.

Fig. 84, Map 8

Types: Male holotype, male, female paratypes from Motlow Cave , Lynchburg , Moore Co. Tennessee ( FSCA), collected 2 January 1960 by T. C. Barr .

Diagnosis: Similar to S. alabama n. sp., but differing in the absence of the mesal angiocoxites and the more fimbriate nature of the colpocoxite branch.

Etymology: The species epithet honors Jasper “Jack” Daniel (1850–1911), noted distiller of Jack Daniel’s Bourbon Whiskey, still made in Lynchburg, Tennessee, and a favorite libation of the author.

Description of male from Motlow Cave: Length, 6.7 mm, width 0.5 mm. Structure typical of genus. Gonopods (fig. 84) with completely fused coxosternum; coxal portions project anteriorly; angiocoxal setal groups close together, of 3 or 4 setae, mesal group on low prominence. Mesal angiocoxal branch absent; lateral branch erect, straight, distally tapering to slightly curved point, below which is posterior winglike extension. Colpocoxites large, bulky, fimbriate branch thick, brushlike. Ninth and tenth legpairs typical.

Female from Motlow Cave: Length, 6.8 mm, width 0.6 mm. Nonsexual characters as in male.

Distribution: See Map 8 for selected records. All specimens FSCA; all records supported by at least one male. TENNESSEE: Bedford Co. Campbell Cave, 27 August 1957, T. C. Barr, 28 December 1960, 17 January 1961, H. R. Steeves. Friddle Cave, 2 February 1964, H. R. Steeves. Coffee Co. Blowing Cave, 25 July 1972, T. C. Barr; Carroll Cave, 25 July 1957, 5 July 1972, T. C. Barr; Crumpton Creek Cave, 6 July 1972, T. C. Barr; Riley Creek Cave, 6 July 1972, T. C. Barr. Rutherford Co. Bishop Cave, 17 January 1972, T. C. Barr.

Notes: Motlow Cave, a former commercial cave, is about 600 yards from the famous Jack Daniel Spring Cave, located on the Jack Daniel Distillery grounds, and from which the water used to brew the whiskey is taken. Motlow Cave reputedly connects with Jack Daniel Cave ( Barr 1961, p. 337). Causey labeled specimens of this species as “rudis.” Clearly related to S. alabama , from Jackson, Madison and Limestone Counties, Alabama, this species is nonetheless distinct in lacking entirely the mesal colpocoxite branches. The distribution of S. jackdanieli is separated on the eastern side from that of S. alabama by caves in Franklin Co., Tennessee, that are occupied by the widespread species S. ventus Shear. However , in the more westerly part of the range, there are no Scoterpes records from the intervening Lincoln Co., Tennessee. All the currently known records for S. jackdanieli appear to be located in the Duck River drainage.