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| Author(s): |
Humberto Yoji Yamaguti
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB) |
| Defense date: | 2011-04-04 |
| Examining board members: |
Ricardo Pinto da Rocha;
José Antonio Ochoa Cámara;
Fernando Portella de Luna Marques;
Silvio Shigueo Nihei;
Almir Rogério Pepato
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| Advisor: | Ricardo Pinto da Rocha |
| Abstract | |
A relationship hypothesis is proposed for the genus Rhopalurus Thorell, 1876 (Scorpiones: Buthidae). The genus has 19 valid species and two valid subspecies, and is diagnosed mainly by the presence of an stridulatory apparatus and by the expansion of the metassomal segments. The monophyly of Rhopalurus was never tested within a phylogenetic analysis, neither was the useness of those characters to support the genus. The analysis was made with 14 spp of Rhopalurus and 17 spp from other six Buthidae genera. We have used five genes (18S, 28S, 12S, 16S, and COI) and 86 morphological characters in a total evidence analysis, through parsimony and direct optimization. The genus Rhopalurus is paraphyletic and divided in four genera, here described: Rhopalurus, Heteroctenus (revalidation), gên. nov. A, and gên, nov. B. Synonymies: R. amazonicus and R. crassicauda paruensis with R. crassicauda, R. virkkii with H. abudi, R. acromelas with gên. nov. B agamemnon, R. pintoi kourouensis with gên. nov. B pintoi. Some of the South American genera (Rhopalurus, Physoctonus, and gên. nov. B) relate the Brazilian northeast with the north of South America, and the found patterns suggest allopatric speciation within these genera. The Heteroctenus patterns suggest dispersion from North America to the Greater Antilles, with later speciation events in each island. We also discuss a putative populational structure of gên. nov. B rochae. The presence of the stridulatory apparatus doesn\'t gather the former species of the genus. Furthermore, a detailed study reveals the existence of three different morphological types. Based on the obtained phylogeny, we related each one of these types with the genera where they occur (Rhopalurus, Heteroctenus, and gên. nov. B). (AU) | |