The scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones) of Sint Eustatius, Lesser Antilles
Author
Teruel, Rolando
Author
Madden, Hannah
text
Euscorpius
2012
2012-12-31
145
145
1
9
https://mds.marshall.edu/euscorpius/vol2012/iss145/1/
journal article
10.18590/euscorpius.2012.vol2012.iss145.1
1536-9307
4672908
Isometrus maculatus
(DeGeer, 1778)
Figures 4–5
Records
:
Zeelandia
(
17°30.222N
,
62°59.014W
),
7 April 2010
,
N. Esteban
,
1♂
(specimen photographed alive and released).
Cherry Tree
(
17°29.291N
,
62°58.531W
),
18 November 2010
,
C. Gibbs
,
1♀
(
RTO
: Sco-0523)
.
Figure 3:
Adult female
Centruroides barbudensis
from Sint Eustatius, dorsal and ventral views.
Ecological Notes
: both specimens were found inside inhabited houses, as it is the rule for most populations in the West Indies (Armas, 1976a; Teruel, 2009).
Comments
: this scorpion is native from the Indian subcontinent, but due to a markedly synanthropic habit, it has been widely dispersed through the world and became cosmopolitan (Fet & Lowe, 2000).
Its occurrence in
Sint Eustatius
was first recorded by Armas (1976a) on the basis of an adult male and female collected near Oranjestad, in early 1942, and deposited in the collection of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie at Leiden,
The Netherlands
. No additional records have been published since, only reproductions of this reference (e.g., Fet & Lowe, 2000). Thus, the specimens herein studied represent the first confirmation that
I. maculatus
still keeps a viable population in this island.
Figure 4:
Adult male
Isometrus maculatus
from Cuba, dorsal and ventral views.
Family
Scorpionidae Latreille, 1802
Subfamily
Diplocentrinae Karsch, 1880