Orobothriurus famatina Acosta, 2001

Ochoa, José A., Ojanguren Affilastro, Andres A., Mattoni, Camilo I. & Prendini, Lorenzo, 2011, Systematic Revision Of The Andean Scorpion Genus Orobothriurus Maury, 1976 (Bothriuridae), With Discussion Of The Altitude Record For Scorpions, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (359), pp. 1-90 : 52

Orobothriurus famatina Acosta, 2001 Figures 36 F–H, 54

Orobothriurus alticola: Maury 1976: 17 (part); Cei, 1982: 660, 669 [misidentification].

Orobothriurus famatina Acosta in Acosta and Ochoa, 2001: 205–211, figs. 4–14; Ochoa, 2004a: 43, 52, 55, 73, table 1 ; Ojanguren Affilastro, 2005: 177–181, figs. 458–466, 477, 488, 663, table 15.

TYPE MATERIAL: ARGENTINA: La Rioja Province: Famatina Department: Holotype ♂ (MACN-Ar 9932), Sierra de Famatina, Rio Oro canyon, path to Mina El Oro, 29 ° 069S 67 ° 429W, 2450 m, 6.xii.1998, L. Acosta, M. Acosta and G. Repossi. Paratypes: same data, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ ( LEA 240 ), 1 ♂ ( CDA 051 ), 1 ♂ ( MHNC) ; Famatina , iv.1951, R. González Amorío, 1 ♀ (MACN-Ar 6844) ; Mina El Oro, Chilecito , ii.1956, M.E. Galiano, 1 ♀ (MACN-Ar 6843) ; Sierra de Famatina, path to Mina La Mejicana , 3060 m, 5.xii.1998, L. Acosta, M. Acosta, and G. Repossi, 1 ♀ ( CDA 050 ), 1 ♀ (MACN-Ar 9933), 1 ♀ ( MHNC) .

NEW RECORDS: ARGENTINA: La Rioja Province: Famatina Department: Sierra de Famatina, Cuevas de Noronha (path to La Mejicana mine), 28 ° 559310 S 67 ° 409230W, 2846 m, 29.i.2006, L. Piacentini, L. Compagnucci, and A. Ojanguren Affilastro, 2 ♂, 6 ♀, 12 juv. (MACN-Ar), 2 ♀ ( AMNH [LP 5846]).

DIAGNOSIS: Orobothriurus famatina is most closely related to O. calchaqui (fig. 5), from which it differs in the following respects. Orobothriurus famatina possesses one ML macroseta on metasomal segment IV and only 10 % of the specimens possess one DL macroseta on segment III (absent in 90 %), whereas O. calchaqui possesses two or three macrosetae on segment IV and 70 % of the specimens possess one DL macroseta on segment III (absent in 30 %). There are also differences in the trichobothrial pattern. Pedipalpal chela trichobothria db and Et 3 are located in the same axis as, or slightly distal to Est in 70 % and 30 % of the specimens of O. famatina , respectively, but always located proximal to Est in O. calchaqui . Pedipalp patella trichobothrium em 2 is located in the same axis as, or distal to em 1 in 70 % of the specimens of O. famatina , but proximal to em 1 in 80 % of the specimens of O. calchaqui . Orobothriurus famatina may be differentiated from O. compagnucci by the more elongated apex of the hemispermatophore lamina: the apex comprises 66.6– 68.48 % (n 5 3, mean 5 67.02 %) of the lamina in O. famatina (fig. 36F–H) and 52.17 % –54.54 % (n 5 3; mean 5 52.98 %) in O. compagnuccii (fig. 36A–C). The two species can also be separated by the VL and VSM carinae of metasomal segment I and sternite VII in the male, which are well developed in O. famatina , and weakly developed to absent in O. compagnuccii (fig. 18F).

DISTRIBUTION: Orobothriurus famatina is known only from high altitudes (2500– 3200 m) of the Sierra Famatina, a mountain range close to the Andes, in La Rioja Province of central-western Argentina (figs. 3G, 54).

ECOLOGY: This species inhabits an area of grassland and shrub steppe that belongs to the Prepuna and Altoandina phytogeographic provinces ( Cabrera and Willink, 1980; fig. 3G). It occurs in sympatry with another bothriurid, Bothriurus olaen Acosta, 1997 ( Ojanguren Affilastro, 2005).

Figures

Fig. 36. Orobothriurus Maury, 1976, sinistral hemispermatophore, ectal aspect showing lamina. A–C. Orobothriurus compagnuccii, n. sp., ♂ holotype, ♂ paratypes (MACN-Ar). D, E. Orobothriurus grismadoi Ojanguren Affilastro et al., 2009, ♂ paratypes (MACN-Ar). F–H. Orobothriurus famatina Acosta, 2001, ♂ (MACN-Ar). I, J. Orobothriurus alticola (Pocock, 1899), ♂ (MACN-Ar). K–O. Orobothriurus calchaqui, n. sp., ♂ paratypes (MACN-Ar). Scale bar 5 1 mm.