A new species of Troglotayosicus Lourenço, 1981 (Scorpiones: Troglotayosicidae) from southern Ecuador

Phylogeny of the Troglomorphic Scorpion Genus Troglotayosicus (Scorpiones: Troglotayosicidae) with Description of a New Species from Colombia

“…The distribution map was prepared using R 4.3.1(https://www.r-project.org), with elevation data obtained from the elevatr package (Hollister et al, 2023), country and river spatial data from giscoR (Hernangómez, 2023) and rnaturalearth (Massicotte and South, 2023), and plotting performed using the ggplot2 (Wickham, 2011(Wickham, , 2016 and ggspatial (Dunnington et al, 2023) packages. Geographical coordinates of published locality records were extracted from previous publications (Lourenço, 1981;Botero-Trujillo and Francke, 2009;Botero-Trujillo et al, 2012, 2017Sánchez-Vialas et al, 2020).…”

Systematics of the Relictual Asian Scorpion Family Pseudochactidae Gromov, 1998, with a Review of Cavernicolous, Troglobitic, and Troglomorphic Scorpions

“…These endogean species of Typhlochactas Mitchell, 1971 resemble their hypogean counterparts, known from caves in eastern Mexico Sissom and Cokendolpher, 1998; . The genus Troglotayosicus comprises five species, all without median ocelli and some partially depigmented, from the forests of Colombia and Ecuador (Lourengo, 1981;Botero-Trujillo and Francke, 2009;; Sanchez-Vialas et al, 2020), only one of which, Troglotayosicus vachoni Lourengo, 1981, was collected inside a cave, all others having been taken from leaf litter. Chaerilus telnovi , which is partially depigmented, lacks median ocelli, and has reduced lateral ocelli, was also found in the leaf litter, in a karstic region on the Indonesian island of Halmahera.…”

A New Troglomorphic, Leaf-litter Scorpion from Ecuador (Troglotayosicidae: Troglotayosicus)

“…This was followed by the discovery of Troglotayosicus meijdeni Botero-Trujillo et al, 2017, at Vereda Agua Caliente, in the Huila Department (Rivera Municipality) of Colombia, on the western slopes of the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes, several hundred kilometers northeast of the other species, and currently the northernmost record for the genus (Botero-Trujillo et al, 2017). Recently, a fifth species, Troglotayosicus muranunkae Lourenco et al, 2020, was discovered at Las Orquideas, in the Zamora Chinchipe Province of Ecuador, ca. 125 km southwest of the type locality of T. vachoni, on the slopes of the Cordillera del Condor, between the Andes and Amazonia, becoming the second species recorded from Ecuador and extending the known distribution of the genus further south (Sanchez-Vialas et al, 2020).…”

“…Recently, a fifth species, Troglotayosicus muranunkae Lourenco et al, 2020, was discovered at Las Orquideas, in the Zamora Chinchipe Province of Ecuador, ca. 125 km southwest of the type locality of T. vachoni, on the slopes of the Cordillera del Condor, between the Andes and Amazonia, becoming the second species recorded from Ecuador and extending the known distribution of the genus further south (Sanchez-Vialas et al, 2020). The known distribution of Troglotayosicus now extends ca.…”

“…All other specimens were collected in the leaf litter of tropical rainforests, implying an endogean rather than hypogean lifestyle, as in some eyeless, depigmented species of Typhlochactidae Mitchell, 1971, known only from forest leaf litter, e.g., Typhlochactas mitchelli Sisson, 1988, Typhlochactas sissomi Francke et al, 2009, and Typhlochactas sylvestris Mitchell and Peck, 1977(Vignoli and Prendini, 2009Prendini et al, 2010). Sanchez-Vialas et al (2020: 613, 617) questioned whether T: vachoni is exclusively hypogean (i.e., troglobitic); this species may also inhabit leaf litter on the forest floor outside the Los Tayos Caves.…”