Checklist of the false scorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) of Colombia, with new records and a key to the identification of the families

Abstract

Colombia is a mega-biodiverse country and rich in ecosystems as different as the Amazon and the Andes. Much is known of the vertebrate fauna, however there is still an information-gap for many arthropod groups including the arachnids. Here, we compile all the information available for pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) recorded from Colombia and include several new records and distribution extensions. For each described species, we present information on taxonomic history, type localities, global and local distributions, repository of Colombian specimens, and collection numbers when available. We document 12 families, 45 genera and 65 species of pseudoscorpions for Colombia and most species belong to the families Chernetidae (27 species) and Olpiidae (8 species). We record Beierolpium venezuelense Heurtault, 1982, Geogarypus amazonicus Mahnert, 1979, Sathrochthonius venezuelanus Muchmore, 1989, and Semeiochernes armiger (Balzan, 1892) for the first time for Colombia. We further extend the known ranges of Parachernes melonopygus Beier, 1959 and Paratemnoides nidificator (Balzan, 1888). The data suggest that the Caribbean region of Colombia has the highest number of records. Total numbers are not complete and many other new pseudoscorpion species are expected.

New syarinid pseudoscorpions from Ecuador (Pseudoscorpiones, Syarinidae: Ideobisium and Ideoblothrus)

“…The addition of five new syarinids represents the first pseudoscorpion descriptions for mainland Ecuador for more than a decade (Mahnert & Schmidl 2011). In general, pseudoscorpion taxonomy in tropical South America is often poor and comprehensive studies are only available for Brazil (e.g., Mahnert 1979Mahnert , 1985Adis & Mahnert 1985;Mahnert et al 1986;Adis et al 1988;Morais et al 1997), although there have been some recent studies on the Colombian fauna (e.g., Torres & Bedoya Roqueme 2018;Bedoya Roqueme 2019;Romero-Ortiz et al 2019) but none for Peru. All of these rely exclusively on somatic morphology.…”

A new genus and five new species of pseudoscorpions (Arachnida, Pseudoscorpiones, Withiidae) from Colombia

“…With a surface area of more than 1.1 million square kilometers, Colombia is considered a hot-spot of biodiversity with nearly 2,000 species of birds ( ACO 2020 ), 1,610 fish ( DoNascimiento et al 2019 ), 543 mammals ( SCmas 2021 ), and 27,713 plants and lichens ( Bernal et al 2020 ). However, the Colombian pseudoscorpion fauna is rather poorly known even though this has been steadily rising during the past decade, with 23 recorded species in 2007 ( Ceballos and Florez 2007 ) to 65 species in 2019 ( Romero-Ortiz et al 2019 ). But when compared with countries like Brazil with 174 species, Peru with 45 species, Ecuador with 61 species, and Venezuela with 63 species, there are considerable gaps to fill.…”