Second record of Tityus bahiensis (Scorpiones, Buthidae) from Venezuela: epidemiological implications

This work reports the second record of the scorpion Tityus bahiensis Perty from Venezuela. The specimen was found alive in a wardrobe at a hotel resort in Margarita Island, northeastern Venezuela. Morphological characterization allowed its assignment to the Tityus bahiensis population inhabiting the southernmost area of the species' geographic range, e.g. the state of São Paulo in Brazil, northern Argentina and Paraguay. The fact that the only available Venezuelan antiscorpion (anti-Tityus discrepans) serum does not neutralize the effects of alpha- and beta-toxin from Tityus serrulatus venom (which resembles in composition that of T. bahiensis) constitutes a warning to local clinicians confronted with envenomations by noxious species transported to Venezuela from Brazil by human agency.

The first report of Tityus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in Anzoátegui State, Venezuela: a new species

Tityus gonzalespongai n. sp. is a species endemic to the high mountains of Anzoátegui State, Venezuela. It is found between 1,600 and 2,200 m in ''La Laguna'' mountain. Its habitat includes the area of ''Bosque Húmedo Montano Bajo'' with the type of vegetation of ''Bosque Ombrófilo Montano Siempreverde'' (''Bosques Nublados Costeros'' that includes the ''Subpáramos Arbustivos''). It is distinguished from other Tityus species (T. caripitensis, T. monaguensis, and T. nororientalis) by the following characteristics: 1- the disposition of the trichobothria in the pedipalps; 2- ventral keels of the caudal segments of the metasoma (segment II, double and parallel in the proximal two thirds, then convergent and finally divergent in the base; segments III and IV, double and parallel in the basal third, then convergent in a single keel that divides in the base); 3- the number of lines of denticles of the movable finger of the right pedipalp (male = 14; female = 14); 4- pectineous teeth (right/left: male = 15/15: female = 16/15); 5- color: movable and fixed fingers dark brown; prosoma and metasoma, ochre; caudal segment IV, slightly darker than the previous ones; V and the telson, dark brown. T. gonzalespongai belongs to the ''androcottoides'' group and presents a marked sexual dimorphism. It is the first species of the Tityus genus described and reported in Anzoátegui State, expanding this taxa distribution in Venezuela.