First record of Stenochrus portoricensis Chamberlin, 1922 (Arachnida: Schizomida: Hubbardiidae) for the Pernambuco state, Brazil

The schizomids represent a small arachnid order consisting of 273 species (Zhang, 2013). This order is further subdivided in to two families: Protoschizomidae and Hubbardiidae (Armas, 2010). Schizomids are relatively unknown in many parts of the world, especially in tropical countries (Harvey, 2007). Specimens of this order are rare even in scientific collections (Peres et al., 2006). In Brazil, most of the described species occur in the northern portion of the country (Santos and Pinto-da-Rocha, 2009).

Recent records of the order were prepared for the Northeast of Brazil, in the states of Pernambuco, Paraíba, Bahia, Rio Grande do Norte, and Ceará (Peres et al., 2006; Santos et al., 2008, 2013). Four species are known to thrive in this region, three belonging to the genus Rowlandius Reddell and Cokendolpher, 1995 (Rowlandius linsduarte Santos, Dias, Brescovit and Santos, 2008; Rowlandius ubajara Santos, Ferreira and Buzzato, 2013 and Rowlandius potiguar Santos, Ferreira and Buzzato, 2013) and one to the genus Stenochrus Chamberlin, 1922 (Stenochrus portoricensisChamberlin, 1922) (Santos et al., 2008, 2013).

The only record of schizomids in the Pernambuco state was documented by Peres et al. (2006), who collected a specimen from a region of the Atlantic rainforest situated close to the urban area. However, due to the state of preservation of the specimen, an accurate identification could not be conducted and was thus only identified up to the family level (Hubbardiidae) (Santos et al., 2008). Thus, such a record was not very informative for distribution studies.

Among the Hubbardiidae species, S. portoricensis is widely distributed throughout the world and is considered a cosmopolitan species (Armas, 2010). In Brazil, this species has been sighted in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Tocantins states (Tourinho and Kury, 1999; Santos et al., 2008; Kury et al., 2010). This species is characterized by the presence of two setae that are linearly arranged along the propeltidium (Figure 1a), a 'spur' pedipalp in a medial trochanter (Figure 1b), and internal female genitalia (Tourinho and Kury, 1999). In this study, we report on the occurrence of S. portoricensis in the Pernambuco state. Thirty specimens (23 Females and 7 Juveniles) were collected in June of 2013 between São Lourenço da Mata and Jaboatão dos Guararapes, in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. All the specimens were captured in an urban zone close to Mata do Engenho Mamucaia (8º 02’ 34” S, 35º 02’ 22” W), a fragment of the Atlantic rainforest with an area of approximately 430 ha. All short-tailed whipscorpions were kept at the Arachnological collection of Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. The fact that only females and juveniles have been collected in this study corroborates the hypothesis proposed by Reddell and Cokendolpher (1995) and Armas (2004) that S. portoricensis is a parthenogenetic species. Males of this species are not commonly collected and have only been reported in southern Mexico and the Caribbean Islands (Tourinho and Kury, 1999). In addition, this species also thrives in caves or forests, beneath leaf litter, stones, and fallen logs, in abandoned nests of Nasutitermes spp. (Armas, 2004; Teruel, 2004; Santos et al., 2008), as well as in highly disturbed environments (Tourinho and Kury, 1999) such as the collection site of this study. In conclusion, the new record presented in this report extends the distribution of the species to the northern part of the Brazilian coastal zone, including the state of Pernambuco.

Figure 1
(a) Propeltidium with one pair of setae that is linearly arranged (dorsal view). Arrows indicate the position of the setae. (b) Right pedipalp (prolateral view). Arrow indicates the mesal spur of the trochanter. Scales = 0.2 mm.

Acknowledgements

We are highly grateful to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, Brazil) for supporting the second author’s masteral studies.

• (With 1 figure)

References

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  25 Aug 2015
• Date of issue
  Aug 2015

History

• Received
  13 Nov 2013
• Accepted
  27 Jan 2014