Morphometry and geographical variation of Bothriurus bonariensis (Scorpiones: Bothriuridae)

Abstract

Diversification of morphological characteristics among geographically separated populations is particularly important in understanding evolutionary processes and is considered the early stage of allopatric speciation. In the present study, we investigated geographic variation in scorpion populations of Bothriurus bonariensis (Koch 1842). Our principal goal was to compare different populations of this species with regard to its distribution, analyzing somatic and genitalic characters. In Argentina, specimens of B. bonariensis from Entre Rios and Corrientes Provinces are dark brown, while specimens from La Pampa have reddish coloration. Scorpions of this species from Brazil and south of Uruguay are totally black. Also, we observed variability in body size, some morphological characteristics of adult specimens (e.g., prosoma length, hand height, hand width, and telson height), and genitalic traits (e.g., hemispermatophore lamina length, basal and distal lamina width, dorsal fold length). Results indicate the presence of evident geographic variation: populations from Argentina show similar morphological patterns that differ from populations from Uruguay. We discuss these data in the context of the current phylogeographical and evolutionary knowledge of this species.

Mating plugs and sexual cannibalism in the Colombian orb‐web spider Leucauge mariana

“…For example, in the guppy Poecilia reticulata , male characteristics such as size, color pattern, and body shapes vary among localities according to female preferences, which in turn are influenced by water color and predator intensity of that locality (Endler & Houde, ; Foster, ). On the other hand, differences in sexual communication among CR and CO populations can occur as a response to geographical variation, which molds variations in body characteristics such as body condition, behavior, which could be a measure of male quality (Endler & Houde, ; Foster, ; González, Peretti, Viera, & Costa, ; Olivero, Mattoni, & Peretti, ).…”

Análisis morfológico y morfométrico deTityus (Tityus) sorataensisKraepelin 1911 (Escorpionida: Buthidae) de dos valles mesotérmicos andinos, Quime y Cheje, La Paz-Bolivia

“…También se realizó un análisis discriminante general (GAD) linear con común covarianza, para evaluar el porcentaje de exactitud al agrupar los especímenes 20 . Para reducir el número de variables jerárquicamente (según la importancia en la discriminación) se utilizó la función step Back wise hasta obtener un número mínimo de variables que aún permitan diferenciar los grupos con un mínimo error 21 .…”

Morphometric and meristic diversity of the species Androctonus crassicauda (Olivier, 1807) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in Saudi Arabia

“…We used multivariate discriminant analysis to assess morphological differences among populations from eco-geographical regions based on morphometric variables ( Fisher, 1936 ). Canonical Correlation Coefficient analysis and the Eigenvalues were calculated as proposed by Vignoli et al (2005) and Olivero, Mattoni & Peretti (2012) .…”