Scoterpes copei (Packard)

Shear, William A., 2010, 2385, Zootaxa 2385, pp. 1-62 : 41-45

Scoterpes copei (Packard)

Figs. 56–67, Map 5

Spirostrephon (Pseudotremia) copei Packard, 1871, p. 748 .

Scoterpes copei, Cook & Collins, 1895, p. 55 . Shear, 1972, P. 279. Hoffman, 2000. P. 235. Types: Male holotype and paratypes (MCZ) from Poynter’s Cave, Edmonson Co., Kentucky, examined in 1971.

Diagnosis: Scoterpes copei , S. tombarri and S. musicarustica share the characteristic of long median angiocoxites with at least a short lateral branch ( Figs. 72, 75), but copei has relatively shorter lateral angiocoxites, about equal in length to the medians. In the other two species, the lateral angiocoxites are considerably longer than the medians.

Etymology: Named for Edward Drinker Cope, a pioneer in American vertebrate paleontology, who, as an anatomist, also studied some of the adaptations of cave-dwelling animals, and described a few millipeds.

Male from Mammoth Cave, Kentucky: Length, 11.5 mm, width, 1.1 mm ( Fig. 56). Nonsexual characters typical for genus. Gonopods ( Figs. 59–67) with coxae fused to sternum, projecting anteriorly, median coxal setae in compact linear group, about 10 setae in lateral group, remote from distal edge of coxa; median angiocoxites long, flattened, lateral angiocoxites no longer than medians, complexly folded distally, with lateral branch thin, finely toothed; fimbriate branch of colpocoxite highly variable, usually feathery, prominent. Ninth, tenth and eleventh legpairs typical.

Female from Mammoth Cave: Length, 12 mm, width 1.3 mm. Nonsexual characters as in male.

Distribution: See Map 5 for selected records. All listed records supported by males; specimens FSCA unless noted. KENTUCKY: Adair Co. Cue’s Cave, 24 July 1964, T. C. Barr. Allen Co. Carpenter Cave, 4 January 1966, collector unknown. Barren Co. Duval Saltpetre Cave, 0.7 mi W of Beckton, 16 February 1957, L. Hubricht (VMNH); Edmunds Cave, 7 mi W of Glasgow, 27 August 1971, S. B. Peck; Indian Cave, “1881,” collector unknown (USNM); Indian Cave, 4 mi W of Cave City, 21 October 1958, L. Hubricht (VMNH); Mitchell Cave, Glasgow, 4 July 1958, L. Hubricht; 2 December 1959, T. C. Barr; Skaggs Saltpetre Cave, Temple Hill, 31 July 1963, T. C. Barr. Breckenridge Co. Boot Heel Cave, 30 June 1965, T. C. Barr; Norton Valley Cave, 19 October 1963, T. C. Barr; Thornhill Cave, 2 mi E of Big Spring, 15 August 1964, T. C. Barr. Edmonson Co. Blowing Spring Cave, Mammoth Cave National Park (MCNP), 1 December 1965, L. Hubricht (VMNH); Buzzard Cave, MCNP, 3 mi NE of Mammoth Cave, 20 June 1957, S. Krekeler; Diamond Caverns, 1 January 1966, S. B. Peck; Dixon Cave, MCNP, 23 June 1956, L. Hubricht (VMNH); Floyd Collins Crystal Cave, 29 July 1956, L. Hubricht (VMNH); Mammoth Cave, MCNP, 1 July 1925, collector unknown (USNM); 1 July 1928, S. C. Bishop (USNM); 26 June 1937, collector unknown (FMNH); 15 January 1956, L. Hubricht (VMNH); 25 August 1957, N. B. Causey; Martin’s Cave, MCNP, 13 October 1956, L. Hubricht (VMNH); Proctors Cave, MCNP, 23 September 1949, L. Hubricht (VMNH); small cave near Floyd Collins Crystal Cave, 29 July 1956, L. Hubricht (VMNH); White’s Cave, MCNP, 28 May 1956, L. Hubricht (VMNH). Green Co. Montogomery Cave, 2 mi NW of Black Gnat, 25 August 1963, T. C. Barr. Hardin Co. Unnamed cave 1.3 mi W of Star Mills, 13 January 1957, L. Hubricht (VMNH); Saltpetre Cave, 10 May 1963, collector unknown; Great Onyx Cave, Cave City, 22 August 1935, collector unknown (FMNH). Hart Co. Buckner Hollow Cave, 30 August 1963, T. C. Barr; Chatlin Cave, 2 mi W of McMinnville, 11 August 1967, L. Hubricht (VMNH); Cooch Webb Cave, 2 November 1963, T. C. Barr; Copelin Cave, 2 mi E of Millerstown, 24 August 1964, L. Hubricht (VMNH); Cub Run Cave, 2 mi W of Cub Run, 29 December 1956, L. Hubricht (VMNH); Hogan Cave, 3 mi N of Cave City, 4 May 1957, L. Hubricht (VMNH); Ronald’s Cave, 2.6 mi N of Cave City, 4 May 1957, L. Hubricht (VMNH); Saltpetre Cave, 1.5 mi E of Lone Star, 24 February 1957, L. Hubricht (VMNH). Meade Co. Rock Haven Cave, 8 July 1961, T. C. Barr. Metcalfe Co. Devil’s Den, 3 mi S of Center, 25 September 1966, T. C. Barr. Monroe Co. Bromfield Cave, 2 mi SE Persimmon, 30 April 1964, T. C. Barr. Pulaski Co. Hydens Cave, 1.3 mi E of Bluejohn, 10 June 1964, T. C. Barr; Old Kentucky Cave, 8 mi SSE of Somerset, 29 January 1967, T. C. Barr; Richardson’s Cave, 2.5 mi E of Somerset, 4 February 1962, T. C. Barr; 25 June 1957, S. Krekeler. Rockcastle Co. Teamer’s Cave, 1 September 1963, T. C. Barr. Warren Co. Wolfe Creek Sink, Bowling Green, 12 October 1974, A. Likowski (FMNH). Wayne Co. Blowing Cave, 4 mi SSE of Powersburg, 6 September 1964, R. Norton; 28 September 1969, T. C. Barr; Hog Cave, 3 mi E of Mill Springs, 3 October 1959, T. C. Barr; Jesse Cave, 13 June 1964, T. C. Barr; Steale Cave, 3 October 1959, T. C. Barr; Wind Cave, 4 mi SE of Powersburg, 26 November 1959, T. C. Barr. TENNES- SEE: Fentress Co. Sells Cave, 7 March 1959, T. C. Barr. Macon Co. Ann White Cave, 27 September 1956, T. C. Barr; Saltpetre Cave, 6 January 1966, T. C. Barr. Meigs Co. Sensabaugh Cave, 4 January 1963, R. Norton. Overton Co. Coleman Cave, near Pickett Co. line, 24 January 1960, T. C. Barr; Raven Bluff Cave, 28 February 1959, 8 April 1960, T. C. Barr.

Notes: I am as unsatisfied as others will undoubtedly be with this treatment of Scoterpes copei as a very widespread, polymorphic species distributed from near the Ohio River in the north to north-central Tennessee in the south, as well as its occurrence in two distinct karst regions, the Western Pennyroyal and Eastern Pennyroyal. The former dips into Tennessee as the western part of the Highland Rim, and the latter continues deep into Tennessee as the Cumberland Plateau province. Nell Causey seemed equally frustrated, judging from her specimen labels. She recognized no less than six subspecies of S. copei , but I find that I cannot reliably separate them based on the specimens she regarded as typical, and some of them lacked geographical coherence. However, it may be useful to review her thoughts here. “Copei proprius” was from a single record in Adair Co., and is in the far eastern part of the Western Pennyroyal, almost exactly between the proposed distributions of two other subspecies, “copei copei,” occupying the Western Pennyroyal heartland, and “copei inexpectatus” in the northern Eastern Pennyroyal. In turn, “copei inexpectatus” blends into “copei rarus” in the southern Eastern Pennyroyal and Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau. There are no obvious barriers or natural breaks in the ranges of the latter two. The designation “copei remotus” was given to specimens from Hardin and Breckenridge counties north of the Rough River; these specimens most closely resemble S. sollmanni from Indiana (see below). Finally, “copei paganus” refers to a single collection from Meigs Co., Tennessee; Meigs Co. is in the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Province of Tennessee, far, far removed from any other copei records, and aside from the very isolated blountensis in karst windows in the Unaka Mountains, represents the only Scoterpes in Tennessee east of the Sequatchie Valley. I think it may be mislabelled, but only repeat collecting can solve the dilemma. Scoterpes species do occur southward in this Province in Georgia and Alabama, but they belong to different species groups, or cannot be assigned to a group.

The illustrations presented here are meant to show the range of variation in the gonopods of copei . Some intraspecific variation, particularly in the terminus of the lateral angiocoxites and in the fimbriate branch of the colpocoxites, is also present. After nearly 10 years of intermittant study, I cannot recover Causey’s subspecies nor can I recognize groups of populations that are consistantly distinct from those in the core area around Mammoth Cave National Park in Edmonson and Hart counties, Kentucky. Specimens from Hart County caves are surprisingly diverse in gonopod details. While I think there are cryptic species to be recognized in this complex, it will take a major collecting effort to obtain new material, suitable for genetic analysis, to finally work out the problems. Barr (1967) studied this species’ ecology in Mammoth Cave.