Orobothriurus (Scorpiones: Bothriuridae) phylogeny, Andean biogeography, and the relative importance of genitalic and somatic characters

Abstract

L. (2012). Orobothriurus (Scorpiones: Bothriuridae) phylogeny, Andean biogeography, and the relative importance of genitalic and somatic characters. -Zoologica Scripta, 41, 160-176. The genus Orobothriurus Maury, 1976 (Bothriuridae Simon, 1880) displays an Andean pattern of distribution, most of its species occurring at high altitudes (over 2000-2500 m to a maximum altitude record of 4910 m) from central Peru to Argentina. The recent discovery of several new species and the uncertain phylogenetic position of Orobothriurus lourencoi Ojanguren Affilastro, 2003, required a reanalysis of Orobothriurus phylogeny. Thirty bothriurid taxa, including all species of Orobothriurus and Pachakutej Ochoa, 2004, were scored for 65 morphological characters and analysed with parsimony under equal and implied weighting. The resulting topology justifies the establishment of a new genus, Rumikiru Ojanguren Affilastro et al., in press, for O. lourencoi and a closely related, new species, Rumikiru atacama Ojanguren Affilastro et al., in press. It also offers new insights about the phylogeny and biogeography of Orobothriurus and related genera. Characters from the male genitalia (i.e. hemispermatophore), comprising approximately 26% of the morphological matrix, were found to be less homoplastic than those from somatic morphology, contradicting suggestions that genitalia are uninformative or potentially misleading in phylogenetic studies.

Evidence forEurogondwana: the roles of dispersal, extinction and vicariance in the evolution and biogeography ofIndo‐PacificHormuridae (Scorpiones:Scorpionoidea)

“…Characters of the hemispermatophore (118–139) showed the least homoplasy ( F i = 0.94; CI = 0.74; RI = 0.86), confirming that genital structures are informative for inference of scorpion phylogenetic relationships as demonstrated by Mattoni et al. (). The metasoma (characters 90–115: F i = 0.87, CI = 0.52, RI = 0.52) and pedipalp trichobothria (58–70: 0.84, 0.46, 0.51) were the second and third most informative character systems.…”

Andean uplift drives diversification of the bothriurid scorpion genus Brachistosternus

“…The Altiplano is not currently a hotspot for Brachistosternus , despite being part of its ancestral range. Indeed, the Altiplano represents a coldspot for scorpion diversity and endemism, as corroborated by the significantly lower than expected PD value, most of its species occurring on the slopes of mountains surrounding it (Mattoni et al ., ). This may be due to extinction or dispersal out of the area associated with several flooding events (Fornari et al ., ).…”

“…Fourteen biogeographical provinces, regions containing high levels of biodiversity and endemism, are currently recognized as part of the Andes in the South American transition zone and the Andean region sensu Morrone (, ). Andean uplift was suggested as a driver of diversification in taxa such as the angiosperm genera Heliotropium L. (Luebert et al ., ) and Hedyosmum Sw. (Antonelli & Sanmartín, ), scorpions (Mattoni et al ., ), grasshoppers (Pocco et al ., ), glassfrogs (Hutter et al ., ), and brush‐finches (Sanchez‐Gonzalez et al ., ). Furthermore, Andean orogeny caused the separation of habitats and subsequent speciation of their respective faunas, especially in freshwater fishes (Albert et al ., ).…”

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“…In other animals, rapid divergence of male genital apparatus between externally similar taxa is well known and attributed to sexual selection or other mechanisms (Eberhard, 1985;Hosken & Stockley, 2004). In bothriurid scorpions, the rate of evolution of hemispermatophore structures varies, and parts deemed essential for sperm transfer may be more conserved by stabilizing selection and relay more phylogenetic signal (Mattoni et al, 2012). In buthids, we have found that as a rule, capsule and lobe structure tends to be well conserved in species belonging to the same genus (e.g., Kovařík et al, 2018a;Lowe, 2010bLowe, , 2018Lowe et al, 2014Lowe et al, , 2019.…”