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Abstract
During the systematic revision of Mayazomus, the third most diverse genus of micro whip-scorpions in North America, we found three species with peculiar morphological variation, which are different from those diagnostic characters for Mayazomus. These species share with Mayazomus the large body size and the unusual development of the male pedipalps; however, these three species share the shape of the female spermathecae with Stenochrus rather than with Mayazomus. Therefore, their phylogenetic placements create a dilemma. Here we perform analyses with morphological evidence, using two different methodologies (Parsimony and Bayesian inference) in order to hypothesize the phylogenetic relationships of the three species mentioned with each other and with respect to other North American and/or Central American genera. The results confirm our initial hypothesis that the species belong to a different genus, Olmeca gen. nov., which is recovered as the sister group of all hubbardiine genera included in these analyses, except for the genus Hubbardia. The results also indicate that despite sharing some morphological similarities, it is distantly related with Mayazomus. Three species are described herein: Olmeca brujo sp. nov., Olmeca cruzlopezi sp. nov., and Olmeca santibanezi sp. nov. Additionally, we provide a hypothesis of the relationships and biogeography of Olmeca gen. nov. with other genera.
http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F64CE801-7D82-4827-A5B9-0C0B41F58043
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Lorenzo Prendini and Louis Sorkin for their help and assistance at the American Museum of Natural History, to Luis F. de Armas and Carlos Víquez for the loan of Central American schizomids. To Berenit Mendoza Garfias (IBUNAM) and Jesus A. Cruz-López for their help and assistance with the SEM photographs. To the members of CNAN for their help collecting the type specimens of Olmeca, especially to Griselda Montiel Parra for her help with the specimens at Colección Nacional de Arácnidos. To Virginia León Regagnon, leader of the Proyecto Biotas Tropicales, Red Temática Código de Barras, CONACYT who provided financial support for the field trips to Los Tuxtlas. To Carlos Santibanez-López who helped us to improve the manuscript with his comments. Finally, to Alejandro Valdéz Mondragón also for his comments on the manuscript. The first author thanks the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), the Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto de Biología, UNAM (IBUNAM) for financial support, and the Programa de Apoyo a Estudiantes de Posgrado (PAEP) for the financial support during the visit to the AMNH in NY city. Specimens were collected under Scientific Collector Permit FAUT-175 granted by SEMARNAT, Mexico, to Oscar F. Francke.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Supplemental data
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2016.1271057.