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Ischnotelson, gen. nov., metasoma and telson, dorsal (A, B) and ventral (C, D) aspects. A, C. I. guanambiensis (Lenarducci et al., 2005), comb. nov., ♂ (MZSP). B, D. I. peruassu, sp. nov., holotype ♂ (MZSP). Scale bars = 5 mm.
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The Neotropical "club-tailed" scorpions of the genus Rhopalurus Thorell, 1876, and two related genera in family Buthidae C.L. Koch, 1837, i.e., Physoctonus Mello-Leitão, 1934, and Troglorhopalurus Lourenço et al., 2004, are revised, based on a simultaneous phylogenetic analysis of 90 morphological characters and 4260 aligned DNA nucleotides from th...
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Context 1
... Metasomal segments longer than wide, but increasing in width posteriorly such that segment V is one third wider than segment I ( fig. 37B, D). Carinae well developed, segments I and II with 10 carinae, lateral inframedian cari- nae of segment III weakly developed; segment IV with 8 carinae; segment V with 5 ...
Citations
... Furthermore, a series of scorpion studies were reported from Iran that included well-known species and several rare taxa by Alexei Andreevich Byalynitskii-Birulya (Nazari and Hassan 2016). In addition, pioneering zoologists such as Pocock and Werner described a few more species in the region (Esposito et al. 2017). In continue, 24 species were reported belonging to 11 genera and two families (Firoozfar et al. 2019). ...
Scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpions) are one of the medically important oldest arthropods. They have been one of the humans’
interests in terms of special morphology, painful stings, mortality, and behavioral attractions for many years. Diagnosis of
scorpions is based on morphological characteristics and molecular methods. But, one of the most important and fundamental
problems of identifying the Iranian scorpions is the lack of a comprehensive method. Due to the fact that a relatively long
time has not passed since the classification of scorpions in Iran and there are no definitive divisions about the genera and
species in the country, the current pictorial key was provided to identify the Iranian scorpions. In this study, various methods
were used to catch the scorpions. For preparing the pictorial key, different genera of scorpions were collected from urban,
rural, plain, and mountain areas in different parts of Iran as well as some archived specimens from the medical arachnid's
Museum of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences were used from 2010 to 2020 collection boxes. The key presented in this
study was prepared only based on morphological features. It was necessary to remind a few points about this key and its use.
Considering the above-mentioned points, this key was provided for 16 genera, 64 species, and 3 families of Iranian scorpions,
and the results of other researchers are included in it. The study of various aspects of scorpion life, especially faunistic studies
has been recently considered in Iran. Various methods such as molecular methods and composition of scorpion venom
can be used for classification, the most common of which are morphological features that have a long history. Therefore, the
need to provide a key to detect scorpions in the country has a special priority.
... The venom of the scorpion Heteroctenus junceus (H. junceus) Herbst 1800 (previously known as Rhopalurus junceus) [13] is an endemic species of Cuba that belongs to the Buthidae family, and has displayed anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antitumor properties [14,15]. From a scientific point of view, previous in vitro studies have shown that this venom exerts a selective cytotoxic effect against tumors of epithelial origin such as: lung (A549, NCI-H292), breast (MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468), cervix (HeLa, SIHA), larynx (Hep-2), and colorectal (HT29); without affecting normal cells: MRC-5, Vero and MDCK [14]. ...
... Life 2023, 13, 2287 ...
The ability of Heteroctenus junceus scorpion venom to modulate the concentration of cytokines related to its antitumoral effect is unknown. F3II cells were treated with ¼ IC50, ½ IC50 and the IC50 of H. junceus scorpion venom. Tumor growth kinetics in F3II-bearing mice were evaluated after 24 days of oral administration of venom doses. The effect of tumor lysates on F3II cell viability was evaluated by MTT assay, while cytokines present in each sample were determined by ELISA. In supernatant, H. junceus scorpion venom decreased the concentration of IL-6 (p < 0.001), IFN-γ (p < 0.001), IL-1β (p < 0.01); meanwhile IL-12 (p < 0.001) and TNF-α (p < 0.001) levels increased significantly, according to the concentration and the time of incubation. Heteroctenus junceus scorpion venom effectively inhibits in vivo tumor progression. In the sera, a significant decrease was observed in TNF-α levels (p < 0.05). In tumor lysates, IL-6 decreased significantly in the groups treated with 12.5 mg/kg (p < 0.001) and 25 mg/kg (p < 0.05). Heteroctenus junceus scorpion venom is capable of modulating other proinflammatory and protumoral cytokines involved in the inflammation associated with cancer.
... The species studied were assigned to well-described species documented in reliable taxonomic literature (i.e. Lourenço, 2002a;Esposito et al., 2017). Nevertheless, the specimens were determined as Tityus apiacas, according to Lourenço (2002b) The chromosome preparations were obtained from the gonads of adult specimens, using the procedure described by Schneider et al. (2009a); the slides were stained with a 3% Giemsa solution. ...
In this work, we analyzed cytogenetically eight Chactidae and Buthidae, including the localization of repetitive DNA sequences. The chactids possess monocentric chromosomes and the highest diploid numbers (2n=50 in Brotheas amazonicus, 2n=36 in Chactopsis amazonica, 2n=30 in Neochactas sp.) when compared with buthids (2n=10 in Tityus bahiensis, 2n=14 in Tityus apiacas and Tityus metuendus, 2n=18 in Tityus aba, 2n=26 in Ischnotelson peruassu). The localization of rDNA genes and (TTAGG)n sequences exhibited a conserved pattern of two terminal/subterminal ribosomal cistrons and terminal telomere signals. However, the comparison between the data of C-banding, DAPI after FISH and Cot-DNA fraction indicated a variable quantity and distribution of these regions, as follow: (i) positive heterochromatin and Cot-DNA signals (B. amazonicus and I. peruassu), (ii) small blocks of heterochromatin with large Cot-DNA signals (T. metuendus), (iii) positive heterochromatic regions and absence of Cot-DNA signals (T. aba and T. apiacas), and (iv) negative heterochromatin and Cot-DNA signals (T. bahiensis). Therefore, our results revealed that there still is not a clear relation between quantity of heterochromatin and presence of monocentric or holocentric chromosomes and occurrence of chromosomal rearrangements, indicating that repetitive regions in scorpions must be analyzed using different cytogenetic approaches.
... After the photographic record of the predation, the specimens were collected, taken to the laboratory, measured with a digital caliper and identified. Scorpion was identified based on Esposito et al. (2017), while the identification assassin bug followed Costa Lima (1935) and Coscarón et al. (2003). Voucher individuals were deposited in the Centro de Conservação e Manejo de Fauna da Caatinga at UNIVASF as follows: An adult female individual of Microtomus tibialis Stichel, 1926 (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) (23 mm total length) was found oriented vertically on the tree trunk, approximately 1.70 m above the ground, with the head and body facing downwards holding an adult female of Physoctonus debilis (C. ...
Scorpions and assassin bugs are arthropod predators that may impact in trophic chain, coexisting in similar microhabitats and exhibiting antagonistic interactions. This study reports the first case of predation of the scorpion Physoctonus debilis by the assassin bug Microtomus tibialis in a Brazilian Seasonal Dry Tropical Forest biome. During a nocturnal collection, an adult individual of M. tibialis was observed, with the head and body facing downwards, while holding a female of P. debilis, with the aid of the mouthparts under the vegetation. Reports like these are important to
understand the evolutionary dynamics and natural history of predators that cohabit in the same microhabitat.
... Five of these species belong to the genus Centruroides and the majority of reported incidents are attributed to endemic species C. granosus (Ministerio de Salud 2016; Miranda et al. 2018. However, the identification at species level in Centruroides is specially complicated by their considerable intraspecific morphological variability (Williams 1980;Myers 2001;Sissom and Hendrixson 2005;Armas and Martín-Frías 2008), wide geographic range of distribution with more than 90 species distributed from southern United States, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean Islands, South America including Colombia, Ecuador Perú (Fet and Lowe 2000;Carcamo-Noriega et al. 2018;Esposito and Prendini, 2019), species diversity (Esposito et al. 2017) and sympatric species (Ponce-Saavedra et al. 2009). The reported species for Panama are C. bicolor, C. limbatus, C. granosus, C. panamensis and C. margaritatus. ...
... It is also shown that the Centruroides sequences generated in this study and the data of specimens obtained from GenBank of different countries, form a monophyletic group for each species with a high bootstrap support for each clade. These results are consistent with previous systematic revision of neotropical Buthidae scorpions (Esposito et al. 2017) and the phylogeny of the new world buthid scorpion subfamily Centruroidinae (Esposito et al. 2018). The MP and ML trees suggest that the endemic species C. panamensis is phylogenetically more related to C. limbatus than to C. bicolor. ...
With more than 33,000 sting cases and 47 deaths recorded between 2000 and 2016, Panama is the country with the highest incidence of envenomations by scorpions in Central America. Species in the genus Centruroides are responsible for most scorpion sting reports, however, identification at the species level is complicated because the genus has considerable intraspecific morphological variation. To date, no molecular data have been reported from Panama that would help to estimate their genetic diversity and validate morphometric identification methods. We provide here the first genetic diversity data of the two endemic species (C. granosus and C. panamensis) and other two species reported in Panama (C. bicolor and C. limbatus). A total of 41 specimens were sequenced for COI and 16S rDNA mitochondrial genes. The phylogenetic concatenated analysis separates the Panamanian samples into four well-supported clades represented by C. bicolor, C. granosus and (C. panamensis + C. limbatus). The two endemic species are not the closest relatives in the tree. Low diversity in combination with its very narrow distribution suggest that C. panamensis is susceptible to environmental degradation. A single specimen of Coiba island is intermediate in the tree structure between C. bicolor and C. panamensis and may represent an early stage of speciation. The haplotype network is also consistent with the phylogenetic trees.
... Several lines of evidence previously suggested the monophyly of the Tityus group, including morphological (e.g., Fet et al., 2005), genetic (e.g., Ojanguren-Affilastro et al., 2017), and genomic data (Santibáñez-López et al., 2022), and it thus appears to be indisputable. The division of the Tityus group into subfamilies Centruroidinae and Tityinae (e.g., Esposito et al., 2017Esposito et al., , 2018 was not supported in our analyses; however, the topology suggests such organization to a certain degree (Fig. 1). Interestingly, Microtityus was placed with low support among lineages that belong to the subfamily Centruroidinae (Esposito et al., 2018), despite the fact that this genus has a different morphology compared to all other genera in that subfamily (e.g., it lacks the diagnostic supernumerary granules on the pedipalp fingers, the main synapomorphy for the subfamily) (e.g., Francke et al., 2014). ...
The family Buthidae represents an early-diverging and most species-rich lineage of extant scorpions, but its internal phylogenetic relationships are still poorly understood. The family is traditionally divided into six morpho-groups; however, the monophyly of some of them remains unclear. We combined multilocus sequence data with extensive taxon sampling to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships among Buthidae and assess the validity of the morphology-based groupings. We recovered a monophyletic Buthus group as a sister clade to all the remaining Buthidae. We also found support for the monophyly of the Tityus group, but the remaining morpho-groups were recovered as para-/polyphyletic. Our results also suggest that some genera are in need of a taxonomic revision.
... In these animals, an increase in natural illumination by the moon can cause a decrease in foraging behavior, possibly because the illuminated night in the field can make the species more vulnerable to predation (Skutelsky, 1996). Therefore, in this study, we speculated that juvenile scorpions of Jaguajir rochae (Borelli, 1910), which are large in size (50-100 mm), abundant, and widely distributed in the Caatinga vegetation in the Brazilian northeast region (Esposito, Yamaguti, Souza, Pinto-da-Rocha, & Prendini, 2017;Lira, De Souza, & Albuquerque, 2018), may be more active during all or most of the time under a full dark regime than those under a normal light-dark cycle. To the best of our knowledge, no study has investigated the effects of photoperiod on body mass and mortality rate in scorpions. ...
... The animals were weighed at night every 15 days until the 120 th day of observation, under red light using an Analytical Balance model AUW220D, Shimadzu, Barueri, São Paulo State, Brazil. At end of experiment juveniles reached the 3 rd -4 th instar and none sexual dimorphism in species was noted (see Esposito et al., 2017). To analyze the influence of photoperiod on mortality, all occurrences of death were recorded. ...
... deaths in group A and 24 (68.57%) in group B. Indeed, the initial instars present a high mortality rate (Sarmento, Souza, Meiado, & Albuquerque, 2008). This is particularly true in species of the genus Jaguajir (Esposito et al., 2017), which produces a large number of small young individuals (Sarmento et al., 2008). This indicates that scorpions of this genus invest in quantity instead of quality, classifying them as R-strategists. ...
Photoperiod is an important environmental characteristic involved in the regulation of circadian physiological processes in living organisms. This experiment verified the effect of photoperiod on biomass gain and mortality in juvenile scorpions of the species Jaguajir rochae (Borelli, 1910). We maintained the juvenile scorpions under two different photoperiod conditions; group A under a light and dark cycle (LD) 12L:12D (n = 36), and group B (n = 35) was subjected to a total dark cycle 0L:24D. Each juvenile was fed cockroaches twice a week and weighed every 15 days until 120 th day. We analyzed the relationship between body mass and time, as well as the mortality between groups. Our results showed that group B had a lower biomass gain than that did group A, and no difference in mortality between the two groups was found. Since the locomotory activity of scorpions is associated with a decrease in luminosity, we suggest that group B had a lower gain in biomass due to a higher locomotor activity, resulting in greater energy expenditure. Though our data showed high mortality across both groups, it was not attributed to the photoperiod but to the high mortality rate of the scorpions of this genus during their initial instars and to them being R-strategist organisms. Thus, this study is important for understanding the relationship between photoperiod and biomass gain in invertebrates, especially in scorpions.
... The State of Ceará is mostly covered by the Caatinga biome, whose scorpion fauna contains at least 33 described species (Porto et al. 2014, Esposito et al. 2017, Lira et al. 2019. However, it is estimated that about 41% of the Caatinga has never been researched, and 80% has been poorly sampled (Tabarelli & Vicente 2004). ...
... maranhensis. Although other scorpion species have already been described for Ceará (Esposito et al. 2017), for example, the buthid Troglorhopalurus lacrau (Lourenço & Pinto-da-Rocha 1997) and the chactids Hadrurochactas brejo (Lourenço 1988) and Hadrurochactas araripe (Lourenço 2010) (endemic to the Caatinga biome) (Azevedo et al. 2016), during the period of our study, no specimens were found and no accidents involving these species were reported. ...
... Physoctonus debillis is found exclusively in some locations of the Northeast region of Brazil and has long been the subject of taxonomic confusion (Esposito et al. 2017, Lourenço 2007, Lorenço 2017. The rare genus Physoctonus Mello-Leitão, 1934 has three described species, P. debilis and P. striatus, inhabiting the northeastern Caatinga region, while P. amazonicus is found in transitional areas of savannas and forests in the southeastern Amazon (Lourenço 2017), supporting the hypothesis that an earlier link between the Caatinga and the Amazon savanna and Guyana enclaves could have influenced the speciation process during the rainy and dry periods (Lourenço 2001). ...
Scorpions are venomous synanthropic arachnids, in 2019 they were responsible for more than 37000 cases of envenomation in the state of Ceará, Northeastern Brazil. To update the knowledge about the scorpiofauna in Ceará, a distribution list of scorpions collected/received by municipal agents of the Health Surveillance Service was performed in 165 municipalities (89%) of Ceará (2018 – 2019) and deposited in the Dr. Thomaz Corrêa Aragão Entomology Laboratory scientific collection, including species distribution maps and ecological data. This study included a total of 999 scorpions from two families (Buthidae and Bothriuridae) and eleven species. The most abundant species were: Tityus stigmurus (40.1%), Jaguajir rochae (37.2%), Bothriurus asper (8.3%) and Bothriurus rochai (6.7%), mainly inhabiting municipalities in the Caatinga biome. The first record of Tityus confluens and Tityus maranhensis in the Sobral mesoregion is herein presented, expanding the distribution of these species in Brazil.
... Inhabiting Amazonian savannah in the Brazilian northern and Guyana Southern (di Caporiacco, 1947;Martins et al., 2021), the scorpion Rhopalurus crassicauda Lourenço, 2002(synonym Rhopalurus amazonicus Lourenço, 1986 and Rhopalurus laticauda Thorell, 1876) (Esposito et al., 2017;Martins et al., 2021) is a poorly studied species. There is only one study developed by Abreu et al. (2020) revealing the structure and function of the major toxin (Rc1 with ~7 kDa) and the isolation of a hyaluronidase. ...
Fungal infections are becoming a serious problem of human diseases, being one of the most important fungal pathogens the yeast of the genus Candida. So far, fungal infection treatment faces different challenges, including the limited number of therapeutic drugs. Scorpions are known to be a valuable source of biologically active molecules, especially of peptide-derived molecules with a variety of biological effects and useful, lead compounds for drugs development. Here, we pioneer described the antifungal effect of venom, mucus, and the major toxin (Rc1) from Rhopalurus crassicauda scorpion. These results support the potential for Rc1 to be further investigated as a novel antifungal therapeutic to treat Candida infections.
... Com isso, devido às condições relativas à morfologia evolutiva de inoculação da peçonha e ao aumento dos encontros dos animais venenosos peçonhentos com seres humanos (SINAN, 2017), destacam-se três grupos específicos que se revelam conflitantes em suas relações com seres humanos no presente estudo: arraias de água doce (LAMEIRAS et al., 2013;HADDAD JÚNIOR, 2010;SAZIMA, 2009;HADDAD JÚNIOR et al., 2004;HADDAD JÚNIOR, 2000;HALSTEAD, 1970), escorpiões (OLIVEIRA et al., 2020;ESPOSITO et al., 2017;GOPALAKRISHNAKONE et al., 2015;BRANDÃO;FRANÇOSO, 2010;MARTINS et al., 2008;SCHMIDT, 2008;CARDOSO, 2003) Diante disso, objetivou-se diagnosticar o conhecimento prévio da comunidade escolar local sobre sua relação ambiental e informação relativa aos animais venenosos peçonhentos, sobretudo escorpiões, serpentes e arraias de água doce, com a finalidade de nortear premissas para a elaboração de materiais didático-pedagógicos que possam intervir em prol da conservação ambiental. ...
O avanço dos sistemas urbanos sobre a natureza aumentou a frequência dos encontros entre seres humanos e animais venenosos peçonhentos. O objetivo deste estudo foi diagnosticar o conhecimento prévio de uma comunidade escolar sobre sua relação ambiental com os animais venenosos peçonhentos. Houve pesquisa-ação, com realização de oficinas didático-pedagógicas para crianças, aplicação de questionários e observação não participante. O público se confundiu para classificação dos animais como venenosos peçonhentos e mostrou-se indiferente aos ambientes modificados, entre outros resultados. Concluiu-se que as oficinas foram eficientes para fixar informações morfofisiológicas e ineficazes para sensibilizar as crianças quanto à sua interação ambiental com esses animais.
