Round the Twist – on confusion of the type series of Centruroides nigrimanus (Pocock, 1898) (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

Abstract

The Central American bark scorpion Centruroides nigrimanus (Pocock, 1898) was described on the basis of an adult male holotype from Oaxaca, Mexico, and an immature paratype from Honduras. In relation to the latter specimen, Pocock (1898: 388) wrote: “Also a younger specimen of apparently the same species from Honduras (Indo-Colonial Exhibition)”. As part of their revision of the scorpion fauna of Honduras, Teruel & Stockwell (2002), without examination of the specimen, concluded that the paratype of C. nigrimanus from Honduras was conspecific with Centruroides gracilis (Latreille, 1804). One jar located by us in the Natural History Museum, London (NHMUK) determined as C. nigrimanus has labels stating: “Honduras (Indo-Col. Exh.) 89.2.8(9)” but is not explicitly marked as being part of the type series. This jar contains an adult male (a Honduran male was not mentioned in the original description) and one immature female lacking the metasoma (Fig. 1). The adult male is a typical specimen of C. nigrimanus ; the immature female has 29 pectinal teeth and the pattern of the pedipalps and trunk also resembles that of C. nigrimanus, but without examination of the telson is difficult to arrive at a precise identification. This said, it is certainly not C. gracilis. We consider that the immature female in this sample was the paratype mentioned by Pocock(1898). Equally, the additional male in the jar, not mentioned by Pocock (1898) must be regarded as a non-type.

Full text

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Newsletter of the British Arachnological Society No. 157, Summer 2023
ISSN 0959-2261
Round the Twist – on confusion of the type series of
Centruroides nigrimanus (Pocock, 1898) (Scorpiones:
Buthidae)
Luis F. de Armas1,2 & Danniella Sherwood2,3
1 P. O. Box 4327, San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa 38100, Cuba;
e-mail: luisdearmas1945@gmail.com
2 Fundación Ariguanabo, San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba
3 Arachnology Research Association, London, United Kingdom;
e-mail: danni.sherwood@hotmail.com
The Central American bark scorpion Centruroides
nigrimanus (Pocock, 1898) was described on the basis of an
adult male holotype from Oaxaca, Mexico, and an immature
paratype from Honduras. In relation to the latter specimen,
Pocock (1898: 388) wrote: “Also a younger specimen of
apparently the same species from Honduras (Indo-Colonial
Exhibition)”. As part of their revision of the scorpion fauna
of Honduras, Teruel & Stockwell (2002), without
examination of the specimen, concluded that the paratype of
C. nigrimanus from Honduras was conspecific with
Centruroides gracilis (Latreille, 1804).
One jar located by us in the Natural History Museum,
London (NHMUK) determined as C. nigrimanus has labels
stating: “Honduras (Indo-Col. Exh.) 89.2.8(9)” but is not
explicitly marked as being part of the type series. This jar
contains an adult male (a Honduran male was not mentioned
in the original description) and one immature female lacking
the metasoma (Fig. 1). The adult male is a typical specimen
of C. nigrimanus ; the immature female has 29 pectinal teeth
and the pattern of the pedipalps and trunk also resembles that
of C. nigrimanus, but without examination of the telson is
difficult to arrive at a precise identification. This said, it is
certainly not C. gracilis. We consider that the immature
female in this sample was the paratype mentioned by Pocock
(1898). Equally, the additional male in the jar, not
mentioned by Pocock (1898) must be regarded as a non-
type.
Furthermore, we also located an adult female of C.
gracilis from “Florida”, identified as a type specimen of C.
nigrimanus (Fig. 2). It is an evident and historical curatorial
error, because neither Florida nor an adult female were
mentioned by Pocock (1898, 1902) for C. nigrimanus. An
additional non-type specimen identified in NHMUK as C.
nigrimanus (not figured here) is a subadult of approximately
62 mm and possibly male. It is not identified as part of the
type series on any labels and indeed the labels are broken
and likely refer to more than one lot.
Finally, we were able to locate the holotype male,
which was, like all other specimens examined, originally a
dry-mounted specimen (Fig. 3). Its oldest and smaller label
(50 mm x 10 mm) states: “C. nigrimanus Poc. Type, Oajaca,
68.74”. The other label (58 mm x 25 mm) says: “Type ♂,
Centruroides nigrimanus Poc. Loc: Oajaca, Mex. 1868.74.
Coll: Pur[chased] Mr Sanson. Dry”. The left pedipalp is
detached and some left legs are broken (Fig. 3). The purpose
of this note is to inform colleagues of the correct identity of
the holotype to ensure there is not future confusion with the
other aforementioned specimens.
References
Pocock, R. I. (1898). Description of some new scorpions
from Central and South America. Annals and Magazine
of Natural History (7) 19: 510–521.
Pocock, R. I. (1902). Arachnida. Scorpiones, Pedipalpi, and
Solifugae. In: Francis & Taylor (eds) Biologia Centrali-
Americana, London. 68 pp.
Teruel, R. & Stockwell, S. A. (2002). A revision of the
scorpion fauna of Honduras, with the description of a
new species (Scorpiones: Buthidae, Diplocentridae).
Revista Ibérica de Arachnología 6: 111–127.
Fig. 1: Centruroides nigrimanus specimens labelled as from Indo-Colonial
Exhibition. The adult male is a non-type and the immature female is the paratype.
Photos by D. Sherwood, © Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.
Fig. 2: Non-type adult female of Centruroides gracilis from “Florida” housed at
NHMUK, erroneously identified as a type specimen of C. nigrimanus. Photos by
D. Sherwood, © Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.
Fig. 3: Centruroides nigrimanus holotype adult male. Photos by D. Sherwood,
© Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.