Tityus ebanoverde Armas, 1999

Teruel, Rolando, 2017, Some taxonomic corrections to the genus Tityus C. L. Koch, 1836 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in Hispaniola, Greater Antilles, Euscorpius 242, pp. 1-9 : 3-4

Tityus ebanoverde Armas, 1999

Figures 3 , 7

Type Data. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, Cordillera Central [Central Range], La Vega Province, Constanza Municipality, El Arroyazo , Reserva Científica "Ébano Verde", 1,100 m a.s.l., under box in house, 27/March/1999, R. Escalante, L. F. de Armas, ♂ holotype ( IES: CZACC-3.286 9, examined) .

Remarks. Without having studied the holotype, Teruel (2005) concluded that this species was most likely not valid because all of the characters utilized as diagnostic by Armas (1999) matched exactly those which hypothetically must possess the yet unknown small adult male of Tityus elii Armas et Marcano Fondeur, 1992 . Moreover, Teruel (2005) argued that he visited the type locality of T. ebanoverde and noticed that its ecological conditions were so homogeneous that it could hardly support the existence of three syntopic species of Tityus , as T. elii and T. ottenwalderi were confirmed to occur there as well.

The direct comparison of the holotype of T. ebanoverde to the types and abundant additional material of T. elii (representing adults of three different size-classes), confirmed that the holotype of T. ebanoverde is indeed a small adult male of the latter. Thus, the following synonymy is herein established: Tityus elii Armas et Marcano Fondeur, 1992 = Tityus ebanoverde Armas, 1999 , new synonym.

The expression of sexual secondary dimorphism in T. elii follows exactly the same rule as in other studied species of the genus, i.e., larger adults are the most strongly dimorphic and smaller ones are the least, while standard males are intermediate between both extremes. Small males of T. elii possess the pedipalp chela and metasomal segment V only slightly swollen and more strongly carinate, as well as pedipalp fingers with basal lobe/notch combination weak to moderate. The expression of all these dimorphic characters increases positively correlated to size: pedipalp chelae and metasomal segment V become progressively wider and deeper with their carination weaker, and lobe/notch combination of fingers becomes stronger ( Fig. 3 ).

Figures

Figure 3: Size-related morphological variability of adult Tityus elii, exemplified by males: a) small preserved specimen from Ébano Verde, La Vega Province (holotype of T. ebanoverde n. syn.); b) standard live specimen from road Bonao-Casabito, La Vega Province (intermediate); c) large live specimen from Villa Las Neblinas, La Vega Province (typical T. elii; photo courtesy František Kovařík); d) two selected morphometric ratios of the same three specimens, showing that robustness of pedipalp manus and metasomal segment V increases with size (expressed as length of carapace and metasoma). Scale bar and graph axes in millimeters.

Figure 7: Map of Hispaniola, showing the updated geographical distribution of two valid extant members of the "quisqueyanus" species-group: Tityus elii (squares) and Tityus portoplatensis (triangles). New records depicted in white symbols, previous records in black.