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| Paruroctonus soda Jain, Forbes & Esposito, 2022 |
Abstract
Herein we describe two new species of Paruroctonus (Werner 1934) from California: Paruroctonus soda sp. nov. from the Soda Lake playa at the center of the Carrizo Plain in San Luis Obispo county and Paruroctonus conclusus sp. nov. from the Koehn Lake playa in the Mojave Desert of Kern County. They can be differentiated from other Paruroctonus by a combination of morphological features including deeply scalloped pedipalp fingers in males, specific patterns of fuscous pigmentation, unique setal counts, and unique morphometric ratios. They can also be separated from one another by the latter three characters. Photographs of a large selection of live scorpions are provided, including detailed images and figures of many morphological features. Their distributions, habitats, and ecologies are discussed; and important steps towards their conservation are described.
Keywords: Conservation, desert, playa, salt flat, scorpions
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| Variation of Paruroctonus soda sp. nov. from across their range. Top two rows, males; bottom row females; holotype male top left. |
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| Adult female Paruroctonus soda sp. nov. with 51 newly born juveniles. |
Family Vaejovidae Thorell, 1876
Genus Paruroctonus Werner, 1934
Paruroctonus soda sp. nov.
Etymology: Paruroctonus soda sp. nov. is named after Soda Lake, which is the only locality this species is known from. The name also reflects the highly alkaline soils this species inhabits.
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| Photographs of a typical juvenile Paruroctonus soda sp. nov. (left), and atypical coloration observed in one late instar juvenile female. Early instar juvenile (left) and late instar juvenile (right) Paruroctonus conclusus sp. nov. Not to scale. |
Paruroctonus conclusus sp. nov.
Etymology: The specific epithet conclusus translates to restricted or confined, in reference to the high degree of habitat specialization and severely limited range of Paruroctonus conclusus sp. nov.
Prakrit Jain, Harper Forbes and Lauren A. Esposito. 2022. Two New Alkali-sink Specialist Species of Paruroctonus Werner 1934 (Scorpiones, Vaejovidae) from central California. ZooKeys. 1117: 139-188. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1117.76872
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