Insights into reproductive strategies of Tityus (Archaeotityus) pusillus Pocock, 1893 (Scorpiones, Buthidae)

Abstract

A remarkable diversity of life history strategies has evolved among species for achieving reproductive success, including adaptive growth, protandry, iteroparity, and extra molting. Here, we report on the reproductive strategies of the litter-dwelling scorpion, Tityus (Archaeotityus) pusillus, the most abundant and widespread scorpion species in the Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil. We observed both iteroparity and protandry reproductive strategies in this species. Females were competent to produce up to three broods after a single insemination, and no correlation between female size and litter size was observed. Most males reached adulthood 1 month before females following four molts, characterizing protandry. Nevertheless, an extra molt was observed to occur in some males (n=4) and females (n=1). These findings highlight the life history traits of T. (A.) pusillus, which may imply in reproductive success and adaptation to changes in environmental conditions.

Sexual dimorphism and reproductive behavior in the Brazilian scorpionTityus pusillus(Scorpiones, Buthidae)

“…These features are characteristic of SD in scorpions and are consistent with suggestions that fecundity selection resulted in a larger prosoma in females, while in males, other body parts, such as the metasoma length and pedipalp chelae, were favored. The shorter embryonic and post‐birth development associated with the capacity to produce multiple litters with a single insemination (Albuquerque & Lira ) was indicative of a high reproductive capacity and may have contributed to the numerical dominance of this species in the remnants of the Brazilian Atlantic forest (Lira et al. , ).…”

“…This scorpion is a small ambush predator that possesses a variegated pattern ranging from normal to leucistic morphs (Lira et al. ), and reaches adulthood after 4–5 ecdyses, with males emerging a month earlier than females (Albuquerque & Lira ).…”

Scorpion body size, litter characteristics, and duration of the life cycle (Scorpiones)

“…In the case of scorpions, there are a few quantitative studies of female and offspring characteristics within populations, but not among species. Larger mothers produce larger litters in Centruroides sculpturatus Ewing, 1928, C. exilicauda Wood, 1863 and Vaejovis spinigerus Wood, 1863 (Brown, 2004;Warburg, 2011), but not in Scorpio maurus Linnaeus, 1758, Nebo hierichonticus Simon, 1872 and Tityus pusillus Pocock, 1893 (Warburg, 2011;de Albuquerque & de Araujo, 2016). To my knowledge, this is the first study to quantitatively compare life histories among species.…”

Some biological aspects of the central Indian endemic scorpion Hottentotta jabalpurensis Kovařík, 2007 (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

“…The genus Hottentotta Birula, 1908 consisting of 55 species (Rein 2020) is one of the most widely distributed genera of the family Buthidae, distributed across Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and in Asia (Kovařík 2007). In India Hottentotta is represented by eight species, namely: H. tamulus (Fabricius, 1798), H. pachyurus (Pocock, 1897), H. rugiscutis (Pocock, 1897), H. jabalpurensis Kovařík, 2007, H. stockwelli Kovařík, 2007, H. keralaensis Ashwathi, Sureshan & Lourenço, 2016, H. reddyi Lourenço, 2015, and H. vinchu Mirza, Ambekar & Kulkarni, 2019 (Kovařík 2007;Bastawade et al 2012;Lourenço 2015, Ashwathi et al 2016). The genus is distributed in six out of 10 biogeographic zones of India (Rodgers et al 2000), namely Gangetic plains, desert, semi-arid, Deccan Peninsula, Western Ghats, and coasts (Bastawade et al 2012).…”