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The subfamily Bourguyiinae Mello‐Leitão, 1923 (Gonyleptidae) is revised, and both phylogenetic and biogeographic hypotheses are proposed. Bourguyiinae is monophyletic, and is the sister group of the remainder of the Gonyleptidae species used for analysis, except for the Metasarcinae, which collectively is the sister group of Metavononoides orientalisMello‐Leitão, 1923 (Cosmetidae). Bourguyiinae is divided into two genera: Bourguyia (six species) and Asarcus (four species). The genus‐level synonyms proposed here are as follows: Caldasius, Styloleptes, and Stylopisthos are junior synonyms of Bourguyia; Bogdana, Cnemoleptes, and Opisthoplites are junior synonyms of Asarcus. The species synonyms proposed here are as follows: Afranius amarali Mello‐Leitão, 1934 is a junior synonym of Bourguyia albiornataMello‐Leitão, 1923; Drastus hamatusRoewer, 1943 and Styloleptes conspersusPiza, 1943 are junior synonyms of Bourguyia trochanteralisRoewer, 1930; Asarcus corallipesSimon, 1879, Asarcus lutescensSørensen, 1884, Asarcus pallidusMello‐Leitão, 1923, and Opisthoplites ypsilonSørensen, 1884 are junior synonyms of Asarcus longipes Kollar in Koch, 1839; Asarcus nigriconspersusSoares & Soares, 1945 is a junior synonym of Asarcus ingenuus Melo‐Leitão, 1940. New species described are: Bourguyia bocaina sp. nov. (Serra da Bocaina, São José do Barreiro, São Paulo), Bourguyia vinosa sp. nov. (E.B. Boracéia, Salesópolis, São Paulo), and Asarcus putunaberaba sp. nov. (Parque Nacional do Caparaó, Alto Caparaó, Minas Gerais). Bourguyiinae is endemic to the Atlantic Rainforest in the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Paraná. Based on the modified data matrix of Pinto‐da‐Rocha et al., we propose a new biogeographical hypothesis for the Atlantic Rainforest. We suggest that Bourguyiinae species were originally distributed from the coastal region of Paraná to the north of Rio de Janeiro and south‐east of Minas Gerais, with subsequent dispersals both to northern and southern areas. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 156, 319–362.

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Individuals of a Thestylus aurantiurus Yamaguti & Pinto-da-Rocha 2003 population in the Parque Estadual da Serra da Cantareira (Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil) show an increase of activity throughout the year. This increase is related to the reproductive season of these scorpions, from September to November. The abundance of scorpions was related to environmental factors in four different areas of the park. More scorpions were collected in the higher areas, far away from water sources of the park and not exposed to flooding. A short description of the Thestylus aurantiurus burrows is also presented.

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All New World buthid scorpions except one South American genus, Ananteris Thorell, 1891, comprise a monophyletic group. The monophyly of two subfamilies, Centruroidinae Kraus, 1955 (= Rhopalurusinae Bücherl, 1971) and Tityinae Bücherl, 1971, proposed to accommodate a subset of these genera, has never been tested. The genera accommodated within Centruroidinae are diverse and poorly defined. Prior to the research presented here, Rhopalurus Thorell, 1876 had a disjunct distribution in the Greater Antilles, the Guiana Shield of northern South America, and northeastern Brazil, where Physoctonus Mello-Leitão, 1934 and Troglorhopalurus Lourenço et al., 2004 also occur. The generic distinction between Rhopalurus and Centruroides Marx, 1890, the most speciose genus of Centruroidinae, distributed from the midwestern United States to northern South America, and throughout the Caribbean, was also unclear. Previous studies suggested Centruroides was paraphyletic with respect to Rhopalurus and vice versa. The study presented here, the first rigorous test of the monophyly of Centruroidinae and its component genera, is based on 90 morphological characters and 4,260 aligned base-pairs of DNA sequence from three mitochondrial and two nuclear DNA loci for 102 terminal taxa, representing 24 species in seven ingroup genera, and nine species in three outgroup genera. Molecular and morphological data, analyzed separately and simultaneously, yielded congruent results. Centruroidinae was monophyletic whereas Tityinae was paraphyletic. Centruroides was monophyletic whereas Rhopalurus was paraphyletic, comprising several monophyletic groups congruent with its disjunct distribution. The results of this analysis justify the redefinition of Rhopalurus and Troglorhopalurus, the revalidation of Heteroctenus Pocock, 1893, and the recently created genera Ischnotelson Esposito et al., 2017 and Jaguajir Esposito et al., 2017. The phylogeny indicates that three distinct types of pecten-sternite stridulation organ evolved in Heteroctenus, Jaguajir and Rhopalurus.